October 05, 2023 (MLN): The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) diminished by $21.3 million or 0.28% WoW to $7.62 billion during the week ended on September 28, 2023, according to the data released by the central bank on Thursday.
Similarly, the country's total reserves declined by $131m or 1% WoW to $13.03bn.
The reserves held by commercial banks fell by $109.7m or 1.99% WoW to $5.42bn.
To note, since the Staff Level Agreement (SLA) was signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country got a substantial boost, with a $1.2bn immediate disbursement received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a $2bn deposit from Saudi Arabia and an additional $1bn deposit from United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Consequently, in the current fiscal year, total liquid foreign reserves have increased by $3.85bn or 41.93%.
However, ever since the boost from the IMF and the Arab countries, fresh inflows seem to have dried up, with the total reserves slowly depleting almost every week.
Meanwhile, the current calendar year has seen an increase of $2.19bn or 20.15%.
