Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves drop to $12.53 b

KARACHI: The total liquid foreign reserves of the country on Thursday stood at US$ 12.5355 billion while the central bank held reserves of $ 7,396.7 million, ARY News reported.

The State Bank of Pakistan, in a statement issued here, informed that SBP’s reserves decreased by $ 115 million to $ 7,396.7 million due to debt repayments during the week ended on November 10, 2023.

Meanwhile, net foreign reserves held by commercial banks stood at $ 5,138.8 million, it added.

Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country, in the previous week ending on November 3, 2023, were US$ 12,614.2 million.

Among them, foreign reserves held by the central bank were $ 7,511.5 million while net foreign reserves held by commercial banks were $ 5,102.7 million.

Yesterday, Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have reached a staff-level agreement on the first review under Pakistan’s Stand-By Arrangement (SBA).

The agreement is subject to the approval of IMF’s Executive Board after approval around US$700 million will be available bringing total disbursements under the program to almost US$1.9 billion.

According to details, the agreement is subject to approval of the IMF’s Executive Board and upon approval around 700 million US dollars will become available bringing total disbursements under the program to almost 1.9 billion US dollars.

The IMF team thanked the Pakistani authorities, private sector, and development partners for fruitful discussions and cooperation throughout this mission.

Under the $3 billion standby arrangement (SBA), Pakistan received $1.2 billion from the IMF as the first tranche in July.