Foreign Exchange: SBP reserves fall $145.9m

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) recorded a decrease of 145.9 million dollars in its foreign exchange reserves during the week ending on June 19.

According to the central bank, reserves held by the SBP decreased to 9.961 billion dollars.

However, reserves held by the commercial banks increased by 100 million dollars to 6.768 billion dollars. The country’s reserves fell by 45.2 million dollars to 16.73 billion dollars during this period.

The central bank received around 1.725 billion dollars in foreign assistance, including 725 million dollars from the World Bank, 500 million dollars from Asian Development Bank, and 500 million dollars from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank during the current week.

These funds will be added to the SBP reserves data to be released on July 2.

Earlier, on June 25, the Ministry of Finance had confirmed Pakistan received $1.5 billion in Covid-19 and development policy related finance assistance from three international financial institutions during this week.

“During this week, Pakistan has received USD 1.5 billion in Covid 19 and development policy related assistance from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank,” it tweeted.

The ministry expressed gratitude to the government of Pakistan’s development partners for “this critically need support in such unprecedently difficult and uncertain time.”