KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) foreign exchange reserves increased by $215 million to $11.022 billion during the week ended on Oct 11, reaching the highest level since FY21.

In its announcement on Thursday, the central bank did not disclose the source of this inflow, but the market considers that the SBP has been buying dollars from the banking market.

The government has projected to boost the SBP reserves to $13bn by the end of the current fiscal year. The rising reserves help stabilise the exchange rate, ultimately encouraging the exporters to sell their maximum export proceeds. Bankers said the inflows, including the remittances, were high during the current fiscal year.

The country’s total foreign exchange reserves reached $16.111bn, including $5.088bn held by the commercial banks.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2024