FX reserves sink to $16bn: SBP

May 19, 2022 (MLN): The total liquid foreign exchange reserves held by the country decreased by $214.7 million or 1.3% WoW to stand at the lowest level of $16.16 billion since Dec 06, 2019, during the week ended on May 13, 2022, compared to $16.37bn in the previous week, weekly data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday showed.

The data further revealed that reserves held by the central bank during the week dipped by $145mn or 1.4% WoW to clock in at the lowest level of $10.16bn since June 19, 2020, mainly due to external debt payments.

Meanwhile, the reserves of commercial banks moved down by $69.6mn or 1.1% WoW to $5.9bn.

It is important to note that, the current level of foreign currency reserves is barely enough to cover 1.52 months of imports.

The continues decline in foreign exchange reserves has created strong spell of currency depreciation as it helped dollar to complete its double century against the Pakistani rupee (PKR) today. The local unit has lost 1.6 rupees to close the trade at PKR 200 per USD.  

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