Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves drop to $13.18 bn

KARACHI: The total liquid foreign reserves of Pakistan reached to US$ 13.18 billion while reserves held by the central bank stood at $7.69 billion, ARY News reported.

The State Bank of Pakistan, in a statement issued here on Thursday, informed that SBP’s reserves increased by $56 million to $7.69 billion during the week ended on September 15, 2023.

Meanwhile, net foreign reserves held by commercial banks stood at $ 5.49 billion, it added. Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country, in the previous week ending on September 8, 2023, were US$ 13.07 billion.

Among them, foreign reserves held by the central bank were $ 7.63 billion while net foreign reserves held by commercial banks were $ 5.44 billion.

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”.