Another Chinese loan boosts SBP’s forex reserves with $487m to $4.3b
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) foreign exchange reserves climbed by $487 million as a result of another loan from China, reaching $4.3 billion as of March 3, according to data released on Thursday.
Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $9.75 billion. Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks clocked in at $5.45 billion.
“During the week ended on Mar 3, 2023, SBP’s reserves increased by $487 million to $4.3 billion, due to receipt of $500 million as GoP commercial loan from China,” said the SBP.
Only days after receiving $700 million from the China Development Bank, the SBP received $500 million last week as part of the ICBC’s $1.3 billion facility.
Last week, foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP increased $556 million to $3.81 billion on the back of a commercial loan from the Chinese Development Bank.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister and Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Thursday said once again that a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to be inked in the next few days.
Delivering a keynote address at a seminar on ‘Reviving economic stability through strengthening of Public financial management (PFM)’ in Islamabad, Dar said his team remains committed to completing the IMF program.
“We have been in the process of the ninth review,” he said. “I think it has taken longer than it should have in my opinion, however, we seem to be very close to signing the staff-level agreement hopefully in the next few days,” said Dar.
