KARACHI: The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) declined by $367 million, reaching $10.21 billion during the week ending April 18, primarily due to external debt repayments, according to a statement released by the SBP on Thursday.
The country’s total liquid foreign reserves dropped by $226 million, settling at $15.436 billion. Meanwhile, commercial banks saw an increase in their reserves, which rose by $141 million to reach $5.23 billion.
Saad Hanif, head of research at Ismail Iqbal Securities, noted that the reduction in reserves was driven by external debt servicing and a substantially negative financial account balance, accompanied by limited financial inflows.
The SBP’s current reserve level is sufficient to cover approximately two months of imports. In March, Pakistan reported a record current account surplus of $1.2 billion, supported by increased remittances. However, this followed a $97 million current account deficit recorded in February.
Over the first nine months of FY2025, the country posted a current account surplus of $1.9 billion, a notable turnaround from the $1.7 billion deficit recorded in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Looking ahead, the SBP anticipates that its foreign exchange reserves will exceed $14 billion by June. As for external obligations, Pakistan’s total debt repayment due in FY2025 stands at $26 billion. Out of this, $16 billion is expected to be refinanced or rolled over, leaving a net repayable amount of $10 billion, of which $8 billion has already been settled.
