Karachi September 22 2022: SBP foreign exchange reserves for the week ending September 16, 2022, were decreased by USD 278 million to USD 8,346 million as per data released by the Central Bank.
Central Bank reserves decline on external debt and other payments, says SBP in a statement.
Pakistan’s Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has stated while speaking to business community few days ago that there is still much pressure on the dollar which will not allow us for opening of LCs for imports.
Pakistan Rupee depreciates 8.86% or 21.10 in last fifteen sessions. The Rupee is 23 paisa or 0.11 percent away from hitting record low of 239.94. According to Bloomberg, the currency is among the worst performers globally in September, having fallen more than 8%.
Pakistan Central Bank reserves will increase once committed amount of approximately USD 1.4 billon for the flood victims starting coming to the country.
At present, SBP reserves stand at the level of USD 8,346 million as of 16th September 2022 compared to USD 8,624 million at the end of the week ending 9th September 2022.
During the same period, foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks increased by USD 30 million to the level of USD 5,723 million as of 16th September 2022.
Overall reserves held by the country witnessed decrease of USD 248 million to USD 14,069 million during the week ended 16th September 2022.
Pakistan Central Bank projected that with the completion of the upcoming IMF review and the additional assistance secured from friendly countries, FX reserves are expected to rise to around $16 billion during FY23. To ensure this and to support the Rupee going forward, it will be important to contain the current account deficit to around 3 percent of GDP by moderating domestic demand and energy imports. In addition, it will be critical to keep the IMF program on-track by following through on the agreed fiscal tightening and structural reforms over the next 12 months.
