Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased by $14.4 million on a weekly basis, clocking in at $8.05 billion as of April 12, data released on Thursday showed.

Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $13.37 billion. Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks stood at $5.32 billion.

“During the week ended on 12-Apr-2024, SBP’s reserves increased by US$ 14.4 million to US$ 8,054.7 million,” it said.

The central bank added that it had executed the repayment of $1 billion maturing Pakistan’s International Bond (principal plus interest) during the said week.

Last week, Pakistan’s central bank reserves had witnessed a slight decrease of $0.1 million.

SBP chief Jameel Ahmad has said that qualitative improvements in the external account allowed the central bank to more than double its foreign exchange reserves from $3.1 billion in January 2023 to around $8 billion despite the repayment of a $1 billion Eurobond this month.

Ahmad said that while speaking to international investors on the sidelines of the IMF, World Bank spring meeting in Washington on Thursday.

He said Pakistan was hopeful of signing a long-term IMF programme, which will facilitate additional external financing and the adoption of structural reforms to deal with longstanding issues in the economy.

It may be noted that Pakistan is expected to receive $1.1 billion in final tranche of the current $3 billion Stand- By Arrangement (SBA) this month.