Karachi October 27 2022: SBP foreign exchange reserves for the week ending October 21 2022, were went down by USD 157 million to USD 7,439 million as per data released by the Central Bank.
Central Bank reserves decrease due to external debt servicing.
State Bank of Pakistan has received US Dollar 1.5 billion from ADB in value on 26 October 2022 as disbursement of policy based loan for the Government of Pakistan.
These proceeds have increased the Foreign Exchange reserves of SBP and will be reflected in the reserves for the week ending 28 October 2022.
At present, SBP reserves stand at the level of USD 7,439 million as of 21st October 2022, compared to USD 7,597 million at the end of the week ending 14th October 2022.
During the same period, foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks increased by USD 68 million to the level of USD 5,722 million as of 21st October 2022.
Overall reserves held by the country witnessed decrease of USD 89 million to USD 13,162 million during the week ended 21st October 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.
