Foreign exchange reserves held by SBP plunge to alarming low

KARACHI – The foreign exchange reserves held by the Pakistan’s central bank have further fallen by $592 million, touching the alarming level of $3,086.2 billion as the cash-strapped country has bent over backward to revive the IMF loan programme.

The reserves held by the commercial banks stood at $5,655.5 million as of Jan 27, 2023, making the total foreign exchange reserves as $8,741.7 billion, leaving the country with less than one month of import cover.

The reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan have been persistently shrinking since the beginning of the current fiscal year, leading to restrictions on the import sector.

A mission of the global lender is visiting Pakistan for last four days for the ninth review of the loan programme stalled since September 2022 as the IMF wanted the South Asian country to meet the preconditions to secure funds.

The country of over 220 million is battling the worst economic crisis in recent times and is in dire need of foreign aid to cut its current account deficit besides having enough reserves to pay the debt.

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