Foreign exchange reserves dropped to $5.5b: SBP
The foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP continued their declining spree, plunging by $245 million to reach $5.58.
The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) continued their declining spree, plunging by $245 million to reach $5.58 – the lowest level since April 2014, according to the data issued by the central bank.
The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $11.43 billion. Meanwhile, the net foreign reserves held by commercial banks stood at $5.85 billion. In the 18 months, the foreign exchange reserves fell by $1.3 billion, which is equivalent to only three-month import expenses.
On July 2, 2021, reserves held by other banks were around $7.183 billion.
“During the week ended on December 30, 2022, SBP-held foreign exchange reserves decreased by $245 million to $5,576.5 million due to external debt repayment,” said the central bank.
Last week, foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP had fallen $294 million to $5.82 billion. The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $11,707.2 million.
Despite Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s claims, the economic crisis is intensifying day by day, as well as the risk of Pakistan’s default.
On Wednesday, Dar claimed that Saudi Arabia and China were set to beef up Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves much before the close of this month.
He also announced that the federal government would be shortly imposing flood levy on the affluent and a significant gain tax on banks’ foreign exchange earnings to ramp up revenue.
“Our foreign exchange reserves by end-June would be much better than you can think,” Mr Dar said while speaking at a joint news conference with five other PML-N ministers.
He said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme would be completed at all costs, China and Saudi Arabi would enhance their support, government-to-government (G2G) disinvestments would be completed, and the current account deficit would be about $3 billion less than earlier projections, quoted Dawn.
Mr Dar repeatedly snubbed questions about the possibility of the country defaulting on its foreign debt, insisting that such speculation was being pushed by the PTI, whose white paper was “a pack of lies” and was allegedly based on selective data, misleading numbers, factually incorrect and devoid of economic context.
