Forex reserves rise to $25.1bln

KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves surged by $816 million or 3.35 percent in the week ended July 16, the central bank said on Thursday.

The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $25.128 billion, compared with $24.312 billion in the previous week.

The State Bank of Pakistan received proceeds of $1.040 billion against Pakistan Euro Bonds. After accounting for external debt repayments, the reserves increased by $845 million to $18.050 billion.

The reserves of commercial banks stood at $7.077 billion, compared with $7.106 billion a week ago. The government borrowed from the bilateral lenders, global multilateral financial institutions and sold Eurobonds in the international capital markets, which helped the country shore up its reserves, despite facing large foreign debt repayments.

Pakistan this month raised additional debt through a tap issue of its recently issued three-tranche dollar denominated Eurobond that had attracted $2.5 billion in March.

Continued official and private inflows, flexible exchange rate regime and persistent improvement in the current account have contributed to the rise in the forex reserves. Remittances soared 27 percent to reach an all-time high of $29.4 billion in the last fiscal year of 2020/21.

Flows are also coming from Roshan Digital Account as overseas Pakistanis have deposited $1.562 billion in these accounts through end-June 2021.

Analysts said the timely completion of the sixth review of the International Monetary Fund’s $6 billion loan programme could further boost the foreign exchange reserves.