Karachi September 1 2022: SBP foreign exchange reserves for the week ending August 26, 2022, were down by USD 113 million to USD 7,697 million as per data released by the Central Bank.
SBP’s forex exchange reserves will improve as Central Bank has received proceeds of USD 1.16 billion (equivalent of SDR 894 million) after the IMF Executive Board completed the combined seventh and Eight review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Pakistan. IMF successful review will also facilitate realization of other planned inflows from multilateral and bilateral sources.
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.
At present, SBP reserves stand at the level of USD 7,697 million as of 26th August 2022 compared to USD 7,809 million at the end of the week ending 19th August 2022.
During the same period, foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks decreased by USD 5 million to the level of USD 5,706 million as of 26th August 2022.
Overall reserves held by the country witnessed an increase of USD 118 million to USD 13,403 million during the week ended 26th August 2022.
