Foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) have dropped to a three-year low of $7.597 billion after falling by $303 million in the week ending on October 7, while the rupee, after showing an appreciation for 13 days has been depreciating since the past two days.
According to SBP, the reserves have fallen because of external debt payments including the payments of commercial loan and interest payment as well as Eurobonds.
According to data, commercial banks’ reserves have fallen to $5.649 billion after dropping by $39 million during the week, whereas, the total reserves of Pakistan have now stood at $13.247 billion.
The reserves of SBP that were at $7.29 billion by the end of 2018-19 jumped to $12.13 billion and $17.29 billion in next two years before falling to $9.19 billion when previous fiscal year ended.
On the other hand, the rupee has again started to show a fall after continuously gaining for almost more than two weeks. The local currency closed at Rs218.38 per dollar after falling by Rs0.23 in the interbank market on Thursday. However, according to reports, the rupee was being traded at Rs222 in the open market.
According to the experts of the currency market, the falling forex reserves have threatened the recent recovery of rupee.
