Karachi, June 6, 2024 – The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) saw an increase of $15.8 million, or 0.17%, week-on-week to $9.11 billion during the week ending on May 31, 2024, according to data released by SBP on Thursday. The central bank did not specify the reason for this uptick.
Conversely, the country’s total reserves experienced a decline of $99.8 million, or 0.70%, to $14.22 billion. This decrease was primarily driven by a significant drop in the reserves held by commercial banks, which fell by $115.6 million, or 2.21%, to $5.11 billion.
RESERVE CHANGES IN THE CURRENT FISCAL YEAR
In the current fiscal year, the SBP-held reserves have witnessed a remarkable increase of $4.64 billion, translating to a 103.95% rise. This substantial boost follows Pakistan securing the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) of approximately $3 billion by the end of June last year, which also facilitated additional multilateral and bilateral funding.
YEAR-TO-DATE INCREASE
For the current calendar year, the SBP reserves have risen by $888.3 million, or 10.8%, further underscoring the positive impact of the IMF’s support and subsequent financial inflows.
