KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves saw a sharp decline of over $2.6 billion in a single week, primarily due to hefty external debt repayments. However, the state bank is expected to regain ground as it has received over $3 billion in fresh inflows, which will be reflected in the reserves data next week. According to weekly report issued by SBP on Thursday, during the week ended on Jun 20, 2025, SBP foreign exchange reserves decreased sharply by $ 2.657 billion due to government of Pakistan external debt repayments, mainly repayment of commercial borrowing. With current decline, foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP fall to $9.065 billion as on June 20, 2025 down from $11.72 billion as of June 13, 2025.
However, the SBP said that reserves will rose significantly as recently inflows of over $3 billion have been arrived in its account from international financial institutions as loan during this week. “During the current week, SBP has received the government of Pakistan commercial loans equivalent to $3.1 billion and multilateral loans of over $ 500 million,” the SBP said.
However as per reporting procedure, these inflows will be reflected in SBP’s foreign exchange reserves for the week ending on 27-Jun-2025.
Biggest decline in over 3 years: SBP foreign exchange reserves plunge $2.66bn on debt repayments
During the period under review, net foreign reserves held by commercial banks increased slightly $50 million to $5.333 billion end of the last week up from $5.283 billion a week earlier.
Accordingly, the country’s total liquid foreign reserves fall by $2.6 billion due to massive declined in the SBP’s reserves. The total liquid foreign exchange reserves held by the country stood at $14.4 billion as of Jun 20, 2025 compared to $17 billion as of June 13, 2025.
Governor SBP Jameel Ahmed is confident that SBP’s foreign reserves will reach $ 14 billion by end of this fiscal year (FY25)
Analysts said that despite slow foreign inflows, Pakistan has successfully managed external debt servicing during this fiscal year.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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