Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves experienced a sharp decline of $2.66 billion within a week, mainly due to repayments to Chinese and other international commercial banks, according to the latest figures released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
The central bank’s reserves dropped from $11.72 billion to $9.65 billion, underscoring the country’s persistent challenges with debt repayments and pressure on its balance of payments.
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In contrast, commercial bank reserves saw a slight rise of $50 million, bringing their total to $5.33 billion and taking the nation’s overall forex reserves to $14.40 billion.
Banking industry sources attributed the significant outflow to scheduled debt servicing payments made to foreign creditors. These included repayments to Chinese institutions and other commercial lenders.
On a positive note, officials reported that some commercial loans had been successfully rescheduled, enabling Pakistan to reclaim previously disbursed funds. Furthermore, the country secured $500 million in financial assistance from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support economic stabilization efforts.
In addition, the government has arranged fresh commercial loans amounting to $3.1 billion. These new inflows are expected to reflect in the forex data for the week ending June 27, potentially offering a short-term boost to the reserves.
