Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves increase to $11 billion

Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased by $215 million to $11.022 billion during the week ended October 11, marking a year-high since FY21.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the central bank did not disclose the sources of inflow, but according to finance experts, the increase was a result of buying dollars from the interbank market. 

Earlier in September, speaking to analysts before announcing the Monetary Policy, governor SBP Jameel Ahmed had said the bank bought $573 million from the interbank in June as it focused on boosting its reserves.

Moreover, he had informed that the supply of foreign currency in June remained higher than demand due to the imports in the banking system, but the remittances from overseas workers increased export earnings as the inflows of the greenback remained beyond expectations.  

However, the government projected to boost the SBP reserves to $13 billion by the end of FY2024, as the rising reserves will assist in stabilising the exchange rate which ultimately encourages the exporters.

Apart from this, according to the statistics, foreign exchange reserves increased by 1.9 percent to $11.022 billion in two weeks from $10.808 billion on October 4, 2024. 

The net reserves held by the banks are $5.088 billion while the total liquid foreign exchange reserves stand at $16.111 billion.