Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves watch

[Stylish Executive]

KARACHI:

Foreign exchange reserves of the country have increased by $353 million to $17.52 billion in the week ended on June 11 compared with the previous week, when reserves stood at $17.16 billion, data released by the State Bank of Pakistan shows.

Reserves held by the State Bank rose to $14.09 billion compared to $13.73 billion in the previous week while reserves held by banks dropped to $3.43 billion against $3.44 billion in the previous week.

Foreign exchange reserves have been growing steadily due to a current account surplus, record remittances from overseas Pakistanis and record earnings from exports. The current account recorded a surplus of $748 million in 10 months (July-April) of the current financial year 2010-11 compared to a deficit of $3.46 billion last year, supported by a sharp rise in exports. In 11 months (July-May), exports surged 28 per cent to $22.5 billion due mainly to a hefty increase in prices of textile products in the international market.

Remittances sent home by overseas Pakistanis also provided a boost to the foreign exchange reserves. In July-May, remittances rose 25 per cent to above $10 billion for the first time in the country’s history.

Last year, release of loan installments by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased reserves of the country. Since November 2008, IMF has released around $7.8 billion of the approved amount of $11.3 billion.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17th, 2011.

 

[KFC_Zinger]

I dont know whether its true or not..... have heard in Pakistan one can not buy $$ easily if one is visiting abroad or if its required for any other reason....

Only selling of dollars is permitted but taking foreign exchange out of the country is not allowed.....

 

[Vegitto1]

No one doubts that Pakistan makes money, and is progressing. However the progress does not filter down all the way to the poor people. It stays among the elites.

Only the poor man is deprived of petrol. Not a single rich man is making any noise about it. And it is not even about the price, petrol is not even being supplied to the poor.

 

[Stylish Executive]

I dont know whether its true or not..... have heard in Pakistan one can not buy $$ easily if one is visiting abroad or if its required for any other reason....

Only selling of dollars is permitted but taking foreign exchange out of the country is not allowed.....

If what you said is true, then it is a good step by Pakistan.

Also, these reserves (keeping some for contingencies) must be converted to gold or silver to preserve their value as opposed to the depreciating dollar.

 

[jheenga]

if you cannot buy what do you do when travelling abroad on vacation or for business ?

 

[Looney]

I dont know whether its true or not..... have heard in Pakistan one can not buy $$ easily if one is visiting abroad or if its required for any other reason....

Only selling of dollars is permitted but taking foreign exchange out of the country is not allowed.....

That is not true , my grandfather buys thousands of dollars every year when he comes to visit North America from Pakistan through AA Exchange , i think , in Hyderi .

 

[Looney]

but they do discourage it , like if you are selling dollar in Pakistan , you will get the best rates .

 

[insaftak]

maybe shuaib can put this in his signature. Job well done by Musharaf's partner in crime.

 

[Stylish Executive]

Also, Pakistan has around 200 tonnes of gold in its reserves.

 

[Desire]

how does that help a common man? common man is suffering from more and more inflation every day.

 

[MenInG]

The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank surged 10.23% on a weekly basis, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

On February 4, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $17,336.8 million, up $1,609 million compared with $15,727.6 million on January 28.

According to the central bank, the increase came due to the receipt of $1,053 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme and proceeds against Pakistan International Sukuk Bond issuance of $1,000 million.

“After accounting for external debt and other payments, SBP reserves increased by $1,609 million to $17,336.8 million,” it said.

Overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $23,720.9 million. Net reserves held by banks amounted to $6,384.1 million.

Earlier in the week ended August 27, 2021 the foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank soared to an all-time high of $20.15 billion after Pakistan received general allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) worth $2,751.8 million from the IMF on August 24.

On March 30, 2021, Pakistan borrowed $2.5 billion through Eurobonds by offering lucrative interest rates to lenders aimed at building the foreign exchange reserves.

It received the first loan tranche of $991.4 million from the IMF on July 9, 2019, which helped bolster the reserves. In late December 2019, the IMF released the second loan tranche of around $454 million.

The reserves also jumped on account of $2.5 billion in inflows from China. In 2020, the SBP successfully made foreign debt repayment of over $1 billion on the maturity of Sukuk.

In December 2019, the foreign exchange reserves surpassed the $10 billion mark owing to inflows from multilateral lenders including $1.3 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB)

 

[daytrader]

SBP’s forex reserves fall to $9.8 billion

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) foreign exchange reserves again fell below $10 billion in the week that ended June 30 on foreign debt and import payments, it said on Thursday.

The SBP’s foreign exchange reserves dropped by $493 million to $9.8 billion as of June 30. The reserves held by the SBP are barely enough to cover 1.42 months of imports.

The country’s forex reserves fell by $453 million to $15.7 billion. Reserves held by commercial banks, however, rose by $40 million to $5.9 billion.

The forex reserves are depleting fast amid a stalled $6 billion International Monetary Fund programme. The country is also struggling with a widening current account deficit weighed down by higher imports, and surging inflation.

The SBP’s reserves have declined by $7.5 billion during the fiscal year 2021/22. The reserves stood at $17.3 billion in the previous year.

A $2.3 billion commercial loan from China helped provide support to forex reserves, which had been falling since January due to current account pressures, external debt repayments and paucity of fresh foreign inflows.

The dwindling reserves put pressure on the rupee, which fell 0.04 percent weaker to close at 207.91 to the dollar on Thursday. It ended at 207.99 in the previous session.

The rupee depreciated by 30 percent against the dollar in FY2022. The domestic currency closed at 205 on June 30, 2022, while it had ended at 158 to the dollar on the last day of FY2021.

The current account deficit rose to $1.4 billion in May, on the back of lower exports and remittances partly due to the Eid holiday. Based on Pakistan of Bureau of Statists data, the trade deficit rose to $4.8 billion in June, more than $1.7 billion higher than its February low.

While non-energy imports have continued to moderate in the last three months on the back of curtailment measures by the government and the SBP, this decline has been more than offset by the significant increase in energy imports, which rose from a low of $1.4 billion in February to an estimated record high of $3.7 billion in June.

“While this partly reflects higher prices, significantly higher volumes of petroleum also played a significant role. Without prompt additional measures to curtail energy imports—for instance through early closure of markets, reduced electricity use by residential and commercial customers, and greater encouragement of work from home and car pooling—containing the trade deficit could become challenging,” the SBP said in today's monetary policy statement.

“With such measures, the current account deficit is projected to narrow to around 3 percent of GDP as imports moderate with cooling growth, while exports and remittances remain relatively resilient,” it added.

The News PK

 

[MenInG]

KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) foreign exchange reserves hit an eight-year low at $5.576 billion during the week ended on Dec 30, 2022.

Despite fast dwindling SBP reserves, Finance Minis*ter Ishaq Dar is still hopeful about reverting the situation with expected financial help promised by the friendly countries, but nothing has been realised so far.

During the week the SBP foreign exchange reserves saw an outflow of $245 million for external debt repayments.

DAWN

 

[MenInG]

The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) continued their declining spree, plunging by $1.2bn to reach $4.5 billion, citing sources, ARY News reported on Saturday.

According to sources, the SBP-held foreign exchange reserves have fallen to $4.5 billion after the new debt repayments to UAE.

Pakistan paid back $600mn to the Emirates NBD Bank and $415mn to the DIB on Friday, they say.