KARACHI: The country’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves slightly fell by $ 53 million during last week. According to the weekly foreign exchange reserve report issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday, the total liquid foreign exchange reserves held by the country stood at $9.99 billion as of May 5, 2023 as compared to $10.043 billion on April 28, 2023.

During the week under review, the SBP’s reserves decreased by $ 74 million to $ 4.383 billion due to external debt repayment. However, net foreign reserves held by commercial banks rose by $ 21 million to $5.607 billion.

The country is facing a crisis of foreign exchange, as Pakistan’s external payments are higher than inflows. Pakistan is also required to pay or roll over some $ 3.7 billion by the end of June this year to avoid default. However, the government is confident of managing the situation.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has already said this payment should not be any cause of concern as arrangements have been made for the rollover or repayment of the scheduled debt.

With some regulatory measures, the federal government has successfully not only curtailed the import bill but also the current account deficit to save the precious foreign exchange reserves.

The government is also negotiating with the IMF for the past few months for the release of some $1bn loan tranche under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program to build the depleting reserves.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023