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

On July 7, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $4.524 billion, up $61 million compared to $4.463 billion on June 30.

Overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $9.839 billion, up $93 million over the previous week. The net reserves held by banks stood at $5.315 billion, registering an increase of $32 million during the week.

In a statement, the central bank highlighted that during the current week, SBP received inflow of $2 billion from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, $1 billion from United Arab Emirates (UAE) and around $1.2 billion from the International Monetary Fund. These inflows will be reflected in SBP’s forex reserves for the week ending on July 14, the statement added.

Cumulatively, the inflow of funds of Saudi Arabia, UAE and IMF stands at over $4 billion and will significantly boost the country’s foreign exchange reserves and import cover. The country’s reserves have remained insufficient for import bill of even one month for much of the current calendar year.

Source: Pro Pakistani