December 07, 2023 (MLN): The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) declined by $236.8 million or 3.26% WoW to $7.02 billion during the week ended on December 01, 2023, according to the data released by the central bank on Thursday.
Similarly, the country's total reserves declined by $285.7m or 2.31% WoW to $12.11bn.
The reserves held by commercial banks diminished by $48.9m or 0.95% WoW to $5.09bn.
To note, towards the end of FY23, the IMF being a last resort saved Pakistan from a sovereign debt default with a $3bn Stand-by Arrangement (SBA).
The initial disbursement of $1.2bn from the IMF, alongside $3bn bilateral inflows from the Arab countries gave a substantial boost to the depleting foreign reserves held by the country.
Consequently, in the current fiscal year, total liquid foreign reserves have increased by $2.95bn or 32.17%.
Meanwhile, the current calendar year has seen an increase of $1.26bn or 11.64%.
In a recent development, Pakistan has secured initial approval from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the release of the next loan tranche under the current $3bn loan program.
Pending approval by the IMF's Executive Board, the agreement will grant Pakistan access to SDR 528m, which is around $700m.
