SBP-held foreign exchange reserves up by $75.2 million

The country's total liquid foreign exchange reserves rose by $ 75.2 million during last week. According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) weekly report issued on Thursday, the country's total liquid foreign exchange reserves stood at $ 13.796 billion as of Nov 11, 2022 up from $13.721 billion on Nov 4, 2022.

During the week under review, the SBP's reserves increased by $ 3 million to $ 7.96 billion. Net foreign exchange reserves held by the commercial banks surged by $72.2 million to $5.837 billion at the end of last week compared to $5.764 billion a week earlier.

Earlier, foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) plunged $956 million on a weekly basis, clocking in $7.96 billion as of November 4, 2022, according to SBP data. Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $13.72 billion. Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks clocked in at $5.76 billion. "During the week ended on November 4, 2022, SBP's reserves decreased by $956 million to $7,957.0 million due to external debt servicing," said SBP in a statement.

"Major external debt repayments executed during the week include repayment of government's commercial loans." The SBP added that "refinancing of these loans was in process which would improve foreign exchange reserves in the coming weeks".

Earlier, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced that the SBP will receive $500 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in the ongoing month. In a tweet, the finance minister shared that the AIIB board approved the funding as "co-financing of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded BRACE program for Pakistan."

"These Funds will be received by State Bank of Pakistan within November 2022," he said.