KARACHI: The country’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves further shrunk by $202 million during the last week.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) weekly report issued on Thursday, the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $8.54 billion as of February 3, 2023 compared to $8.74 billion as of Jan 27, 2023.

During the week under review, SBP’s reserves decreased by $170 million to $2.918 billion due to external debt repayments. The SBP’s reserves can cover the import of two weeks.

Alarm bells: SBP-held foreign exchange reserves plunge $923mn, now stand at mere $3.7bn

Similarly, net foreign reserves held by commercial banks also dropped by $32 million to $5.6 billion.

Currently, the IMF delegation is in the country and the government is negotiating with the IMF for the release of next tranche of Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program to build the sliding foreign exchange reserves of the country.

Hopefully, after the release of EFF tranche other financial institutions and friendly countries will also financially support Pakistan to overcome from the ongoing crisis.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023