KARACHI: The dollar reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) jumped by $1.339 billion during the last week and stood at $10.350 billion here on Thursday.
“The SBP has received $1 billion from the Chinese government while the imports have declined during July 2018,” said Inside Securities Limited Director Zeeshan Afzal.
However, the SBP official refused to comment on the rising reserves.
The reserves of the other than SBP increased by $11 million and stood at $6.730 billion. The total reserves of the country enhanced to $17.079 billion up by $1.350 billion compared to previous week position of $15.729 billion.
According to the news, China has agreed to immediately give a $2 billion loan to Pakistan as “official bilateral inflow” to ease pressure on the next government.
According to the reports, over $1 billion has already been transferred to the SBP accounts this week, and it reflects in the reserves’ data today.
The received amount pushed up SBP-held foreign currency reserves to $10.350 billion.
The $2 billion loan will help Pakistan to maintain its reserves and to reduce pressure on official foreign currency reserves. It is expected that the loan will also help in stabilizing the rupee against the US dollar.
At the inter-bank market on Thursday, the dollar lost 8 paisas in terms of the rupee for buying and selling at Rs123.9307 and Rs124.1171. It was traded lower at the open market as Rs123.00 -124.00 well below the interbank rate. Since Monday, the dollar has lost Rs4 in the interbank market and Rs7 in the open currency market.
