Foreign Exchange Reserves increased to $24bn

July 9, 2021

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As per the data from the State Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves exceeded $ 24 billion last week, thanks to major inflows from China and the World Bank.

The country’s foreign exchange reserves rose $ 1.175 billion to $ 24.415 billion in the week ended July 2, up from $ 23.297 billion in the previous week, according to the weekly foreign exchange reserves report released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

Overall, Pakistan received about $ 1.44 billion in credit flows from various sources including China and the World Bank, to build up foreign exchange reserves and ease pressure on the foreign account.

During the reporting week, SBP received a $ 1 billion loan from the Chinese Government and $ 440 million from the World Bank. After accounting for overseas payments and other official payments, SBP’s assets increased $ 1.112 billion to $ 17.231 billion at the end of last week, up from $ 16.119 billion the previous week.

According to the SBP, foreign exchange reserves of commercial banks rose by $ 5.8 million last week to $ 7.183 billion.

Analysts believe that to bring sustainability in the external account of the country, it is necessary to maintain a high level of foreign exchange reserves, and these revenues have led to the accumulation of the country’s foreign exchange reserves. They added that higher foreign exchange reserves would help to pay off debt obligations smoothly in the future.