KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has rejected rumors claiming its foreign exchange reserves had “dried up. In a tweet SBP clarified its liquid foreign exchange reserves of $8.9 billion are “fully usable.”
The central bank’s response came after reports implied that the reserves have dried up or are not usable and that the SBP has stopped import payments and that banks have run out of dollars.
1/3 #SBP has noticed certain rumors implying that SBP Reserves have dried up or are not usable, that SBP has stopped import payments, and that banks have run out of US$.
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) June 21, 2022
Taking to Twitter, the central bank noted that rumors were circulating that its reserves have fallen to an alarmingly low level along with the suspension of import payments.
However, the SBP clarified that its foreign reserves stood at $8.99 billion. “These do not include gold reserves, and are fully usable for all purposes,” the central bank added.
Sharing a break-up of the foreign reserves position, the central bank said that the reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan stand at $8.98 billion while commercial banks also have reserves of $5.96 billion.
The SBP further said that it had not stopped import payments and that commercial banks had sufficient dollar liquidity to execute those payments.
“Import payments of around $4.7 billion have been executed through the interbank market during the month so far,” the SBP added.
