KARACHI: Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased $3 million on a weekly basis, clocking in $7.96 billion as of November 11, 2022, according to data released on Thursday.
The country’s total liquid foreign reserves were valued at $13.8 billion. The total amount of net foreign reserves held by commercial banks was $5.84 billion.
“During the week ended on November 11, 2022, SBP’s reserves increased by $3 million to $7,959.5 million,” said SBP in a statement.
The SBP will receive $500 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in the current month, according to an announcement made last week by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
The AIIB board authorized the funds as “co-financing of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) financed BRACE program for Pakistan,” the finance minister announced in a tweet.
He stated, “State Bank of Pakistan will receive these Funds no later than November 2022.”
The SBP also received $1.5 billion from the ADB on October 26, 2022 as disbursement of loan for the government of Pakistan.
In September, SBP’s reserves had increased as the central bank received the $1.2-billion tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Moreover, the Saudi Development Fund extended a $3 billion deposit with the SBP that was scheduled to expire in December 2022. However, as the money was already a part of SBP’s reserves, this move was not intended to increase foreign exchange.
For Pakistan, which has been frantically seeking dollar inflows to meet its balance-of-payments needs, the reserve position is crucial.
A lack of foreign exchange reserves has also put pressure on the currency, which has recently only experienced stability.
