KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) foreign exchange reserves rose further by $131 million to $11.418 billion during the week ended on Nov 22, announced the central bank on Thursday.

With the beginning of FY25, the SBP reserves have been increasing each month reflecting both the inflows and dollar buying by the central bank from the currency market.

The details showed that the SBP’s reserves were increased to $9.43bn in August from $9.22bn in July, $10.73 in September and $11.203bn in October.

Currency market experts said the higher remittances and export proceeds would allow the central bank to buy more dollars from the currency market, which will further improve its reserves to timely meet external debt repayment obligations.

Sources in the financial industry said the government is still struggling to secure debt rollover from China, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Recently, the finance minister hinted that these friendly countries were not ready to roll over the cumulative $14bn debt.

Experts said this could be a turning point for the economy as the country is not in position to pay this $14bn during the FY25. They said it will drastically hit the external account of the economy and the surplus current account could see a steep rise in deficit.

The financial sector was expecting a possible shock in case of ‘no’ from the three countries over the issue of rollover.

Some said the remittances would remain high due to higher exports of human resources. More than a million people left Pakistan in 2023.

The State Bank reported the country’s total reserves during the week were $16.076bn including $4.657bn of commercial banks. The country’s total slightly improved while commercial banks shed some reserves.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2024

Follow Dawn Business on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook for insights on business, finance and tech from Pakistan and across the world.

Opinion

Editorial

Dangerous times
Updated 14 Feb, 2025

Dangerous times

Pakistan accounted for six journalist killings in 2024, of which three were deliberately murdered, according to the CPJ.
Difficult target
14 Feb, 2025

Difficult target

A ONE-two punch delivered by an unforeseen, sharp dip in inflation and an extremely slim base of taxpayers is...
Amazing show
14 Feb, 2025

Amazing show

PAKISTAN’S ability to turn it up at the flick of a switch remains uninhibited. The latest show came in...
Trump’s folly
Updated 13 Feb, 2025

Trump’s folly

This latest pronouncement only reinforces the fears of those who see the plan as a blueprint for ethnic cleansing.
Corruption ranking
13 Feb, 2025

Corruption ranking

IT comes as little surprise. Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2024, unveiled on...
Support from remittances
13 Feb, 2025

Support from remittances

EVEN though workers’ remittances dipped, albeit negligibly, in January on a month-over-month basis, the earnings...