Pakistan’s foreign reserves decline by $130.1 million: SBP

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday shared that the liquid foreign reserves in Pakistan have declined by over $130.1 million during the week ended on July 7, ARY News reported.

According to details shared by the SBP, the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $15.61 billion on July 7.

Sharing a break-up of the foreign reserves position, the central bank said that the reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan stand at US$9.71 billion while commercial banks also have reserves of US$5.89 billion after a decrease of $30.3 million.

Earlier in the day, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistan have reached a staff-level agreement for the release of US$1.17 billion under the combined 7th and 8th reviews of Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

A statement issued by the Fund said that the agreement is subject to approval by the IMF’s Executive Board.

“Additionally, in order to support program implementation and meet the higher financing needs in FY23, as well as catalyze additional financing, the IMF Board will consider an extension of the EFF until end-June 2023 and an augmentation of access by SDR 720 million that will bring the total access under the EFF to about US$7 billion.”