KARACHI: Foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) have dropped below $14 billion for the first time in two years, the central bank reported on Thursday.

Reserves of the SBP fell $276 million to $13.86bn in the week that ended on Sept 29.

The central bank said the outflow of $276m was because of debt servicing and other foreign payments.

Falling reserves have sparked a debate on the rupee’s impending devaluation and the strategy to boost exports.

SBP reserves reached their peak of $18.9bn in October 2016. They started falling afterwards as major sources of foreign currency, like exports and remittances, continued to decline or flattened out.

The government paid about $8bn in debt servicing in 2016-17 as it faced a current account deficit of over $12bn.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2017