The country''s foreign exchange reserves continued to weaken, reaching below $ 20 billion at the end of last week. According to State Bank of Pakistan''s weekly report issued Thursday, week-on-week basis, the country''s forex reserves declined by $62 million during last week. Pakistan''s total liquid foreign exchange reserves stood at $ 19.942 billion on August 11, 2017 down from $20.004 billion on August 4, 2017.

During the week under review, the SBP''s reserves decreased by $ 88 million to $ 14.311 billion, due to payments on account of external debt servicing and other official payments. Reserves held by banks moved up by $ 26 million to $ 5.63 billion at the end of last week.

Meanwhile, overall liquid reserves of SBP declined by $ 1.833 billion during the first six weeks of this fiscal year (FY18). The SBP''s reserves declined to $ 14.311 billion on August 11, 2017 compared to $16.143 billion on June 30, 2017. During the period under review, banks'' reserves posted an increase of $ 407 million, ie, from $5.224 billion to $ 5.631 billion. Economists said the decline has been registered in the reserves held by the central bank.

The SBP''s reserves have been depleting because of higher external debt servicing as several foreign debt payments were due in July. However, they said on a positive note, during the period under review, reserves held by banks witnessed upward trend.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017