Forex reserves rise to $27.2bln

KARACHI: Pakistan foreign exchange reserves increased to a record high of $27.2 billion in the week to August 27 as a result of receiving inflows from the International Monetary Fund, the central bank said on Thursday.

The country’s reserves stood at $24.6 billion in the previous week.

The IMF provided Pakistan $2.5 billion in its Special Drawing Rights in late August as a part of the global $650 billion SDR allocation.

The State Bank of Pakistan’s reserves, after accounting for external debt repayments also hit an all-time high of $20.1 billion due to receiving proceeds of IMF SDR allocation.

The reserves of commercial banks stood at $7.08 billion, compared with $7.04 billion.

The IMF distributed funds in new SDR to its member countries to support the countries through the pandemic. This is the largest distribution of the monetary reserves of the IMF in its history. This funding will facilitate the recovery efforts of developing economies.