JK News Today
Jammu, February 10 : Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves slipped to the alarming level of below $3 billion for the first time in nine years on Thursday, reducing import capacity to slightly over two weeks ahead of the likely revival of the IMF $6.5 billion loan programme, according to a report in Express Tribune newspaper of Pakistan.
The newspaper quoted an update of the State Bank of Pakistan to suggest that the “country’s foreign exchange reserves decreased by $170 million to $2,916.7 million (or $2.92 billion) due to external debt repayments in the week ending February 3, 2023.”
The alarming levels of the forex reserves have raised the risk of default on the repayment of foreign debt, the report said.
“The reserves have continued to deplete for the past 18-month period due to previously elevated import payment, low export earnings and slowdown in inflows of workers’ remittances, “ the report said
The reserves stood equivalent to almost three-month import capacity at $20 billion in August 2021.
The central bank further reported that net foreign reserves held by commercial banks dropped by $32.6 million to $5.62 billion in the week under review.
Accordingly, the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $8.54 billion as of February 3, 2023, the newspaper said.
