Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves continued to decline and depleted by $342 million to $13.247 billion by week ended October 07, 2022, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.
The foreign exchange reserves of the country were at $13.589 billion a week ago i.e. September 30, 2022.
READ MORE: Pakistan’s forex reserves decline to $13.59 billion
The country’s foreign exchange reserves hit all-time high of $27.228 billion on August 27, 2021. Since then the foreign exchange reserves have declined by $13.981 billion.
The foreign exchange reserves of the SBP also declined by $303 million to $7.597 billion by week ended October 07, 2022 as compared with $7.9 billion a week ago.
READ MORE: State Bank’s forex reserves shrink to $8 billion
The central attributed the decline to external debt repayments, which included repayment of a commercial loan and interest payment on Eurobonds
The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank witnessed a record high at $20.146 billion by week ended August 27, 2021. Since then the official reserves of the SBP dropped by $12.549 billion.
READ MORE: Pakistan’s forex reserves slip to $14.07 billion
Experts said that falling foreign exchange reserves would reverse the recent gain in value of the Pakistani Rupee (PKR). The PKR make a 13-session winning streak. The exchange rate reached to near record low of PKR 239.71 on September 22, 2022 to the dollar but ended at PKR 217.79 on October 10, 2022. Dar recently claimed that the actual value of the dollar is below PKR 200 and he vowed to bring it down.
READ MORE: Pakistan FX reserves slip to $14.32 billion
Earlier this month, SBP received US$ 1,166 million from IMF under EFF program, which increased the official reserves to $8.8 billion.
The foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks fell by $39 million to $5.65 billion by week ended October 06, 2022 as compared with $5.689 billion a week ago.
