• The central bank said its official reserves fell $169 million to $2.917 billion.
• The official foreign exchange reserves of the SBP fell sharply to an almost nine-year low.
• Previously, these were seen at $3.87 billion in February 2014.

KARACHI: The official foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fell to an alarming level of $2.917 billion, providing import cover for only two weeks (around 18 days), according to the statistics released on Thursday.

The central bank said its official reserves fell $169 million to $2.917 billion by the week ended February 3, 2023, compared with $3.086 billion a week ago on January 27, 2023.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the import bill for January 2023 has been recorded at $4.856 billion. The benchmark foreign exchange reserves of a central bank should be at a level to provide three months import cover.

The official foreign exchange reserves of the SBP fell sharply to an almost nine-year low. Previously, these were seen at $3.87 billion in February 2014.

The central bank attributed the decline to scheduled external repayments.

The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank witnessed a record high of $20.146 billion by the week ended August 27, 2021. Since then, these have dropped by $17.229 billion.

Similarly, the foreign exchange reserves of the country recorded a decline of $202 million to $8.54 billion by the week ended February 3, 2023, compared with $8.742 billion by the week ended January 27, 2023.

The country’s foreign exchange reserves hit the all-time high of $27.228 billion on August 27, 2021. Since then, these have declined by $18.688 billion.

Likewise, the foreign exchange reserves of the commercial banks also fell $33 million to $5.623 billion, compared with $5.656 billion a week ago.

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