Forex reserves down by $320m to $17.3bn

 

Friday, April 15, 2011

 

KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves fell by $319.7 million to $17.3173 billion by the week ended on April 9 against $17.637 billion a week ago, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

“The reserves fell due to scheduled debt repayment,” said Syed Wasimuddin, chief spokesman of the SBP.

The reserves held by the central bank also fell to $13.935 billion during the week under view against $14.261 billion by the week ended on April 2.

However, reserves held by other commercial banks remained flat at $3.382 billion from the previous level of $3.376 billion.

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high of $17.956 billion by the week ended on March 26. The record build-up in the forex reserves was attributed mainly to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan and the Coalition Support Fund.

“This build-up essentially reflects the IMF releases of $7.1 billion under the standby arrangement, an additional $450 million in emergency support in September 2010 and support from the Coalition Support Fund of $633 million at the end-December 2010,” the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a report released last week.

However, analysts said that the reserves were also contributed by high inflows of remittances sent home by overseas Pakistanis and significant growth in export receipts.

The foreign reserves fell to $6.59 billion during the week ended on November 22, 2008 as the country witnessed economic crisis. However, it was improved following the loan approval by the IMF under a standby arrangement of $7.6 billion in November 2008, which was further enhanced to $11.3 billion in August 2009.