Karachi January 27 2021: Overall reserves held by country witnessed decline of USD 868 million to USD 22,482 million during the week ending of 21st January 2022, as per data released by the Central Bank.
Foreign exchange reserves held by State Bank of Pakistan decline by USD 846 million during the the week ending 21st January 2022, as per data released by the Central Bank. This is the seventh consecutive weekly decline in reserves held by SBP.
The main reason of this decline in foreign exchange reserves could be the higher commodity imports. The country’s current account recorded a deficit of USD 9.09 billion in the first half (July to December) of the current fiscal year, mainly on account of increasing imports, as per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). At USD 5.6 billion, second quarter of the current fiscal year saw the second highest quarterly current account deficit since last quarter of fiscal year 2018 when it reached USD 6.1 billion. This was the year when the country faced a record USD 19.2 billion current account deficit.
At the week ending August 27, the foreign exchange reserves held by the state bank increased to an all-time high of USD 20.15 billion as Pakistan received general allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) worth USD 2,751.8 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on August 24 2021.
At present, SBP reserves stands at the level of USD 16.190 billion as of 21st January 2022 compared to USD 17.036 billion at the end of week ending 14th January 2022.
During the same period, foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks decreased by USD 22 million to the level of USD 6.292 billion as of 21st January 2022.
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