Foreign exchange reserves fall $31mn to $25.969bn: SBP

KARACHI: The liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country decreased by $31 million (-0.16 percent) to $25.969 billion by the week ended October 8, 2021, the State Bank reported on Thursday.
According to the central bank, the total foreign exchange reserves of the country stood at $26 billion by the week ended October 1, 2021. The official reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fell $31 million to $19.138 billion by the week ended October 8, 2021, compared with $19.169 billion a week ago.
The foreign exchange reserves held by the commercial banks remained unchanged at $6.831 billion on a weekly basis. The central bank cited no reason behind the decrease in the reserves.
Earlier in the week ended on August 27, the foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank soared to an all-time high of $20.15 billion after Pakistan received general allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) worth $2,751.8 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on August 24.
On March 30, 2021, Pakistan borrowed $2.5 billion through Eurobonds by offering lucrative interest rates to lenders aimed at building the foreign exchange reserves. It received the first loan tranche of $991.4 million from the IMF on July 9, 2019, which helped bolster the reserves. In late December 2019, the IMF released the second loan tranche of around $454 million.
The reserves also jumped on account of $2.5 billion in inflows from China. In 2020, the SBP successfully made foreign debt repayment of over $1 billion on the maturity of Sukuk. – TLTP