SBP reserves jump $582m to $11.5b

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) net reserves increased by $582 million to $11.48 billion during the week ending December 27, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

According to the central bank’s data, the country’s total foreign reserves stood at $18.8 billion.

The break-up of the foreign reserves position is as under:

Foreign reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan: $11.48 billion

Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks: $6.59 billion

Total liquid foreign reserves: $18.8billion.

On December 26, Pakistan had received $452.4 mn on as a second tranche of the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Confirming the report, a spokesperson of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said that the release of second tranche amounting to over $452mn showed IMF’s confidence over the government’s economic policies. The amount will be added to the bank’s data next week, he added.

The spokesperson said that the central bank’s net reserves increased by $14mn to $10.9 billion during the week ending December 20.

He maintained that the country’s total foreign reserves stood at $17.6 billion. SBP’s spokesperson said that net foreign reserves held by commercial banks are around $6.68 billion.