Forex reserves drop to nine-year low


Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have slipped to the alarming level of less than $3 billion for the first time in nine years, which curtailed the country’s import cover to slightly over two weeks ahead of likely revival of International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) $7 billion loan programme

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), in its weekly update, said that foreign exchange reserves decreased by $170 million to $2,916

7 million due to external debt repayments in the week ended February 3, 2023

The low reserves have raised the risk of default on repayment of foreign debt

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, however, appeared confident about the early revival of IMF programme as 10-day talks were scheduled to conclude on Thursday

The resumption of the programme will pave the way for release of next tranche of $1

1 billion in a few weeks or about a month and unlock another couple of billions of dollars from other multilateral and bilateral creditors including friendly countries

It will provide much-needed support for stabilising the foreign exchange reserves

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2023

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Date:11-Feb-2023 Reference:View Original Link