SBP-held foreign reserves fall $784m to $6.71bn

KARACHI: The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fell another $784 million to $6.715 billion as of December 2, 2022, ARY News reported on Thursday.

According to the data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the foreign reserves held by the central stood at $6,714.9 million. This is the lowest level of SBP-held reserves since January 2019.

Meanwhile, the net foreign reserves held by commercial banks were recorded at $5,866.8 million, whereas the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $12.582 billion.

“This decline is on account of the payment of $ 1,000 million against maturing Pakistan International Sukuk and some other external debt repayments,” the central bank said in the statement.

It added that some of the debt repayments were offset by inflows, mainly $500 million received from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

Earlier in November, Pakistan received $500 million from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Ministry of Finance confirmed on Tuesday.

“Government of Pakistan has today received $500 million from AIIB. The funds are deposited with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and will augment our reserves,” the ministry said in a post on its Twitter handle.

It is pertinent to mention here that the SBP received $1.5 billion from ADB on October 26, 2022 as a disbursement of loan for the government of Pakistan.

Last month, the ADB signed an agreement with Pakistan to provide a $1.5 billion loan for budgetary support and help flood-related rehabilitation and reconstruction activities.

The loan, provided under the BRACE Programme, was provided to fund the government’s $2.3bn countercyclical development expenditure programme designed to cushion the impacts of external shocks, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine.