SBP reserves gain momentum with $118m weekly rise

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves continued their upward trend in the week ending May 2, 2025, with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) posting an increase of $118.1 million, or 1.16% week-on-week (WoW). This brought the central bank’s total holdings to $10.33 billion — building on the prior week’s modest rise of $9 million.

The consistent two-week growth comes after a significant $367 million drop recorded earlier in April, which had marked a seven-month low. Since then, the SBP’s position has improved by a combined $127 million over the past two weeks.

Pakistan’s overall foreign exchange reserves also saw a healthy increase, climbing by $230.8 million to reach $15.48 billion. Commercial bank reserves rose by $112.7 million (2.24% WoW), from $5.04 billion to $5.15 billion.

On a fiscal year-to-date basis, SBP-held reserves are up by $943 million (10.04%). However, for the calendar year so far, they remain down by $1.38 billion or 11.77%.

While the SBP has not commented on the source of the inflows, the upward movement indicates growing stability after previous volatility.