KARACHI: Foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fell by almost $2 billion in the last two weeks to settle at $17.146bn until Thursday.

The SBP reported that the foreign exchange reserves fell by $346 million during the week ended on October 22. Last week the reserves fell by $1.6bn. The foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank declined by $1.946bn during last couple of weeks.

The fast depletion of reserves has already damaged the exchange rate of local currency. The SBP reserves were at peak with $20bn in August. Since then, the SBP lost $2.854bn. According to the central bank the entire amount was used for external debt servicing.

The latest report about $3bn Saudi deposits in the account of SBP supported the exchange rate and US dollar depreciated on the second day by 52 paisa with the closing price of Rs172.26. On Wednesday, the dollar lost Rs2,48 which was the first deprecation since May 2021.

The country’s total reserves fell by $3.135bn since record high of $27.068bn in August. This week, the country’s reserves fell by $394m while commercial banks’ reserves decreased by $48m to $6.787bn.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2021