Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves drop to $13.12 bn

KARACHI: The foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan have reached $13.12 billion, ARY News reported, quoting the central bank.

According to the stats issued by the SBP, the country’s foreign reserves dropped by $44 million to $13.12 billion during the week ending on September 1, 2023. The reserves in the SBP dropped by $70 million to $7.77 billion.

Whereas, the Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks decreased by $25.6 million to $5.34 billion.

On August 31, the foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) dropped to $7.84 billion after a decrease of $81 million.

Meanwhile, the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $13.17 billion after a decrease of $77.4 million. The net reserves held by commercial banks amounted to $5.32 billion with a drop of $3.9 million.

It is pertinent to mention here that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decided to introduce ‘structural reforms’ in the Exchange Companies sector to provide “bring transparency and competitiveness” in the sector.

According to a statement issued by the central bank today, the reforms were introduced to provide better services to the general public and bring transparency and competitiveness to the exchange companies’ sector.

“This is expected to strengthen governance, internal controls, and compliance culture in the sector,” the state bank noted.

As part of these reforms, leading banks actively engaged in foreign exchange business will establish wholly owned “exchange companies to cater to the legitimate foreign exchange needs of general public”.