ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank have increased by $280 million to $4.598 billion following the inflow from China. “During the week ended on 17-Mar-2023, SBP received $500 million as government of Pakistan commercial loan disbursement. After accounting for external debt repayments, SBP reserves increased by $280 million to $4,598.7 million,” said State Bank of Pakistan on Thursday. The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $10.139 billion as of 17-Mar-2023. The break-up of the foreign reserves position is as foreign reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan are $4.59 billion and foreign reserves held by commercial banks are $5.540 billion. The government has received $1.7 billion inflow from Chinese commercial bank, which increased the country’s foreign exchange reserves. The country would further receive $300 million from China in current month, which would improve the foreign exchange reserves. Earlier, the country’s foreign exchange reserves were on the declining side mainly due to the repayment against previous loans. The government is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revive the loan programme, which would also pave way for getting loans from other multilateral and bilateral sources to increase the country’s foreign exchange reserves. The government has committed with the IMF to increase its reserves to $10 billion by the end of June this year. Pakistan is expecting to receive inflows from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar following a deal with the IMF.
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