SBP reserves fall $85m to $10.8bn

KARACHI: Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decreased by $85 million to $10,889.2 million during the week ending April 17, 2020, according to data released by the central bank on Thursday.

The decline is attributed to government external debt payments of $145 million, the central bank said.

Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks, however, increased marginally, from $6,320.9 million to $6,411.1 million.

The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country fell from $17,295.5 million in the last week to $17,300.3 million during the week under review.

SBP reserves had momentarily risen by $252 million to $10,974.6 million during the week ending April 10, 2020. This was the first time reserves had risen since March 13.

The SBP reserves are also expected to rise, as the SBP received $1.39 billion from International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to address the economic impact of the Covid-19 shock on April 20.

According to the central bank, these funds will be part of SBP weekly reserves data as of April 24, which will be released on April 30.