Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) foreign exchange reserves decreased by another $294 million to a very critical level of $5.82 billion, the lowest level since April 2014, the data revealed on Thursday.
The country’s total liquid foreign reserves stood at 11.71 billion dollars. The commercial banks’ net foreign reserves reached 5.89 billion dollars.
SBP blames external debt repayment
SBP in a statement said that during the week ending on 23 December, the reserves held by the central bank fell by $294 million to 5.82 billion dollars due to external debt repayment.
Last week, the SBP’s foreign exchange reserves had decreased by 584 million dollars to $6.12 billion.
The central bank’s foreign exchange reserves, which stood at about 18 billion dollars at the beginning of this year but have undergone considerable depletion during the last twelve months, highlight the urgent need for Pakistan to complete the upcoming review of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program.
