Forex reserves rise to $8.9b

The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank rose by 19.7% on a week-on-week basis, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

On October 28, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $8,912.9 million, up by $1,473 million compared with $7,439.9 million on October 21. According to SBP, the increase is attributed to the receipt of $1,500 million from ADB.

“SBP has received $1.5 billion from ADB in value on October 26, 2022, as disbursement of loan for the Government of Pakistan,” the central bank said in a statement. “These proceeds will be reflected in the SBP reserves for the week ending October 28, 2022,” it added.

Overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $14,678.9 million. Net reserves held by banks amounted to $5,766.0 million. During the week ended September 2, 2022, the SBP received $1.166 billion from the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). Foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $8.799 billion, up by $1.103 billion compared with $7.697 billion on August 26, 2022.