SBP’s foreign reserves declined to $11.185 bn in March

KARACHI: The foreign reserves at the central bank decreased by US$804 million to US$ 11,185.6 million during the week ending March 27, 2020, said a report by the State Bank of Pakistan on Thursday.

According to the central bank, the decline is attributed primarily to government external debt payments amounting to US$441 million and other official payments. The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at US$ 17,387.5 million on 27 March, 2020.

The includes US$ 11,185.6 million foreign reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan and net foreign reserves held by commercial banks were $6,201.9 million. The total liquid foreign reserves​​​ in the country stood at $17,387.5 million.

Yesterday, the State Bank of Pakistan released a statement said the outflow of foreign investment during the current fiscal year crossed $2 billion as foreign investors pulled out nearly sixty percent of their funds from the treasury bills. Over $1.9bn of foreign investment in the domestic bonds and equity flew out within a month.

Foreign investments in T-bills witnessed a massive jump during the current fiscal reaching as high as $3.4bn but $1.74bn alone were withdrawn in March. Many foreign investors dumped their holdings in risky markets amid the coronavirus without waiting for the maturity of short-term investment.

The data showed inflows during the first nine months of current fiscal year were $4.134bn including $3.431bn in T-bills while the outflow during the same period was $2.921bn including $2.057bn from T-bills. Around sixty percent of the total investments in the T-bills have been offloaded by investors during the last two months.

As per the SBP data, the outflow of investment from the equity market during the first nine months of the current fiscal year was $818 million against inflows of $624m. The outflow from equity was greater than inflows during the current fiscal year, while the government borrowed Rs552 billion in T-bill auctions.