Forex reserves hit all-time high of $18.82 billion

KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves reached an all-time high of $18.822 billion in the week ended July 31 following inflows from the United States under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF).
The forex reserves rose by $286 million to $18.822 billion from $18.536 a week ago, the central bank said on Thursday.
Forex reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) climbed by $381 million to $13.767 billion from $13.386 billion a week ago and those held by commercial banks slightly declined to $5.055 billion from $5.150 billion.
Analysts said the substantial foreign inflows and sustained increase in workers’ remittances have resulted in a building up of net central bank’s reserves.
The SBP received official inflows of $418 million, including receipts of $337 million under CSF late last month.
Reserves started jumping up since the beginning of the current fiscal year 2015/16. Last time, the total liquid foreign exchange reserves reached the peak level of $18.417 billion as of July 3.
The analysts said that the disbursements of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme-related funding and planned issuance of Eurobonds are expected to support an upward trajectory in the foreign exchange reserves during the current fiscal year.
The International Monetary Fund is also likely to release around $550 million under the Extended Fund Facility to Pakistan this month on the completion of the eighth review on the Pakistan’s economy.
The meetings between the IMF and Pakistan are scheduled to conclude on August 6 (Thursday). The meetings held in Dubai to review progress on the targets agreed for the April-June period and discuss the advancement on conditions set for July-September.