The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank soared by over 90 percent on a weekly basis due to inflows from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

On July 14, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $8.727 billion, up $4.2 billion compared to $4.524 billion on July 7.

In a statement, the central bank highlighted that during the week ended on July 14, SBP received $2 billion from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, $1.2 billion from IMF, and $1 billion from the United Arab Emirates.

Overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $14.065 billion, up $4.227 billion over the previous week. The net reserves held by banks stood at $5.338 billion, registering an increase of $24 million during the week.

It is pertinent to mention here that earlier in the week, the Export-Import (Exim) Bank of China has refinanced over $600 million to the SBP which will further boost the dwindling reserves held by the central bank.

According to Topline Securities, the increase in reserves has improved Pakistan’s import cover to 2.73 months (based on last month’s SBP imports). This is the first time since October 2022 that reserves have crossed the $8 billion barrier.

Source: Pro Pakistani