Karachi March 9 2023: SBP foreign exchange reserves for the week ending March 3rd, 2023, were up by USD 487 million to a high of seven weeks, as per data released by the Central Bank.
Pakistan Central Bank reserves increased on receipt of USD 500 million as a commercial loan from China.
“Formalities completed & Chinese Bank, ICBC approved rollover of USD 1.3 billion facility which has been repaid by Pakistan to ICBC in recent months. Facility will be disbursed in 3 instalments, first one of USD 500 million has been received by SBP. It will increase forex reserves” say Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
“We are hopeful that country’s total foreign exchange reserves will be above USD 16 billion and central bank reserves will be more than USD 10 billion by June this year” says Dar.
At present, SBP reserves stand at the level of USD 4,304 million as of 3rd March 2023 compared to USD 3,814 million at the end of the week ending 24th February 2023.
During the same period, foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks decreased by USD 1 million to the level of USD 5,452 million as of 3rd March 2023.
Overall reserves held by the country witnessed an increase of USD 486 million to USD 9,754 million during the week ending 3rd March 2023.
