The foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan SBP have declined by $956 million or by 10.7 percent to reach $7.96 billion during the week ended on November 4.
It appears that as a result of not receiving assistance from multilateral lenders or friendly countries foreign exchange reserves have fallen.
The reserves of SBP have stood at $7.96 billion while those with other commercial banks have been recorded at $5.76 billion after a reduction of $2 billion. Therefore the total foreign exchange reserves of the country have stood at $13.72 billion.
According to the statement of the SBP, “Major external debt repayments executed during the week include repayment of government’s commercial loans.” It further said that the process was carried on of refinancing the loans and the foreign exchange reserves will improve in the coming weeks.
This leaves the country with an import cover for 1.16 months only.
Earlier in the week ended August 27, 2021 the foreign exchange reserves had soared to an all-time high of $20.15 billion after Pakistan received the general allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) worth $2.751 billion from the IMF on August 24.
On September 30 the reserves had dropped to their lowest level in three years by a massive $302.9 million to reach $7.596 billion from $7.89 billion. Similarly, the net reserves held by commercial banks had decreased by $39 million bringing the total down from $5.68 billion to $5.64 billion.
