SBP Reserves Fall by $228 Million
Karachi: After weeks of increases, the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) foreign exchange reserves declined by $228 million, which now stand, at $11.85 billion for the week ending on December 20.
The SBP Thursday explained that this decline resulted from payments for external debts.
Pakistan has to pay off a total amount of $26.1 billion in the current fiscal year. The government has paid some amount, and some debts have been extended for another year. However, about $14 billion is still required to meet the external debt liabilities for FY25.
As official foreign inflows are limited, the SBP has been buying dollars from the banking market to support its reserves.
The SBP aims to increase its reserves to $13 billion at the end of FY25. Though there has been this recent dip, the last two months have witnessed very encouraging growth in reserves and a target that was to be reached before the end of the year.
At the same time, the foreign exchange reserves. of the country also declined. Total reserves declined. by $261 million to $16.37 billion, with commercial banks holding $4.52 billion after a $33 million decline.
