Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves rise by $66m

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank rose by $66 million to $3.258 billion in the week ending February 17, the Stat...

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank rose by $66 million to $3.258 billion in the week ending February 17, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

The SBP said total liquid foreign reserves stood at $8.726 billion.

Pakistan, which is a $350bn economy, is facing economic turmoil, with a balance of payment crisis and only enough foreign exchange reserves to cover three weeks of imports.

Islamabad is expecting external financing inflows after a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is finalised, something that is likely this month. If the IMF deal is done and approved by its board, that will issue a $1bn funding that will also unlock other bilateral and multilateral inflows.

A well-placed source told Dawn that Pakistan and IMF will sign the staff-level agreement on Feb 28. This will be followed, according to the source, by the IMF executive board meeting expected in the first week of March.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced on Wednesday that the board of the China Development Bank (CDB) had approved a loan facility of $700m for Pakistan.

The minister said that the central bank was expected to receive the money this week, which would help shore up the country’s dwindling foreign exchange reserves.