SBP Reserves Fall by $66 Million to $8.15 Billion

The liquid foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fell by $66 million on a weekly basis according to data issued by the central bank on Thursday. On January 5, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $8.155 billion, down $66 million compared to $8.221 billion on December 29. Overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $13.257 billion, up $36 million over the previous week. The net reserves held by banks stood at $5.102 billion, registering an increase of $102 million during the week. It is pertinent to mention here that in the previous two weeks, the reserves held by the central bank rose by over $1.3 billion. The reserves are likely to further increase as the the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board is likely to approve the second loan tranche of $700 million for Pakistan today.