The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank declined for the third straight week, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

On August 4, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $8.043 billion, down $110 million compared to $8.153 billion on July 27. In a statement, the central bank said that the decrease was on account of debt repayments.

Overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $13.339 billion, down $125 million over the previous week. The net reserves held by banks stood at $5.296 billion, registering a decrease of $14 million during the week.

According to Arif Habib Limited, the successive declines means that the country’s import cover is once again down to less than two months (1.88 months to be precise).

The country’s reserves were significantly strengthened thanks to inflows of over $4 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, pushing reserves to $8.727 billion by July 14. However, the reserves declined by over half a billion dollars in the week ending July 21 and fell once again in the week ending July 27 by $32 million.

Source: Pro Pakistani