State Bank Reserves Stay Above $8 Billion Despite $1 Billion Bond Repayment

The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank increased by $14.4 million on a weekly basis, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday. On April 12, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $8.054 billion, up 0.18 percent compared to $8.04 billion on April 7, which is not sufficient to cover 4 weeks’ worth of essential imports. Overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $13.37 billion, down $68 million or 0.5 percent over the previous week. The net reserves held by banks stood at $5.31 billion, registering a decrease of $82.4 million during the week. During the week, SBP executed the repayment of $1 billion maturing Pakistan’s International Bond (principal plus interest). However, the repayment of a $1 billion International Bond was not reflected in this week’s data.