Karachi December 29 2022: SBP foreign exchange reserves for the week ending December 23 2022, were decreased by USD 294 million to below USD 5 Billion for the first time since April 2014, as per data released by the Central Bank.
Central bank reserves decline on payment of external debt, according to the statement issued by the Central Bank. According to the data, this is the lowest level of central bank reserves since 11th April 2014.
All debt repayments are on track and country’s foreign exchange reserves are expected to increase in second half of the current fiscal year, said Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Jameel Ahmad.
He said, for the fiscal year 2023, around $33 billion were to be repaid to external stakeholders, including the Current Account Deficit (CAD) of $10 billion and $23 billion in loan repayments.
Out of the payable $23 billion external debt, Pakistan has already repaid more than $6 billion whereas as a bilateral loan of $4 billion has been rolled over with the cooperation of relevant countries.
Another $8.3 billion maturing obligations are expected to be rolled over as discussions are underway. The remaining outstanding repayment stands around $4.7 billion for the remainder of this fiscal year. This includes $1.1 billion in commercial loans that have to be paid to foreign banks and $3.6 billion in multilateral loans.
At present, SBP reserves stand at the level of USD 5,821 million as of 23rd December 2022, compared to USD 6,116 million at the end of the week ending 16th December 2022.
During the same period, foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks increased by USD 1 million to the level of USD 5,884 million as of 23rd December 2022.
Overall reserves held by the country witnessed decrease of USD 293 million to USD 11,707 million during the week ended 23rd December 2022.
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