KARACHI: Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased by $1,181 million to $12,070.3 million during the week ending April 24, 2020, according to data released by the central bank on Thursday.
This sharp increase from the $10,889.2 million recorded during the previous week can be mainly attributed to the $1.39 billion received from the IMF.
During the week ending April 24, the SBP received $1.39 billion from the IMF under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to address the economic impact of the Covid-19 shock.
The central bank had previously announced the IMF funds would be part of SBP weekly reserves data as of April 24.
However, the SBP had also made government external debt repayments amounting to $234 million.
Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks, decreased marginally, from $6,411.1 million to $6,392.7 million.
The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country rose from $17,300.3 million in the last week to 18,463.0 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.
