KARACHI: Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) witnessed an uptick of $67 million to $7.897 billion during the week ended on Aug 12, the central bank reported on Thursday.

Holdings of the banks were $5.716bn while the country’s total reserves were $13.613bn.

The weak external account of the country requires additional help to improve its reserves of the country but the new government has so far been unable to increase its reserves. The finance minister has been assuring the nation that the inflows from IMF and other resources would be resumed soon.

These assurances of the finance minister worked well as far as the exchange rate is concerned. The local currency substantially recovered from the peak of Rs239.5 to Rs213.8.

However, for the last two days the dollar halted the rupee’s recovery and appreciated by 7 paise on Thur­sday to close at Rs214.95 from Rs214.88 a day earlier.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2022