KARACHI: Reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fell by $322 million to $7.28 billion on the week ended June 21, said the bank in a notice issued on Thursday.

Of the total reserves in the country, the ratio of holdings with central bank and commercial banks has fallen to 51:49 per cent compared to 60:40pc on Mar 29.

The rising level of foreign exchange reserves with the commercial banks’ — at $7.069bn as of June 21 — indicates the interest among investors to buy greenback as the rupee continues to depreciate.

The rupee has lost more than 42pc since May 2018.

However, reserves with the SBP are declining mainly on account of debt servicing that may rise to $10bn by the end of this fiscal year to meet the huge current account deficit.

With the fall of $5-6bn in the country’s import bill, the current account deficit is expected to stay at $13bn by the end of this fiscal year compared to $19.9bn last year.

Currency dealers, who are reluctant to sell the greenback due to declining value of local currency, said that people want to buy dollars to save their reserves and get profits.

“Who will sell their dollars at this time while the price has been increasing every day,” asked a dealer in the open market.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2019