SBP Reserves Fall by $21 Million During One Week

The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank decreased by $21 million on a weekly basis, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday. On September 28, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $7.615 billion, down $21 million compared to $7.637 billion on September 22. Overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $13.031 billion, down $131 million over the previous week. The net reserves held by banks stood at $5.415 billion, registering a decline of $110 million during the week. According to Arif Habib Limited, the current reserves are enough for import cover of 1.64 months. The reserves held by SBP have fallen by over $1 billion since July 14 when reserves stood at $8.727 billion. Last week, Interim Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar said that the government has set a target of taking the central bank reserves to $12 billion by June 2024.