KARACHI: Reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) jumped by $715 million to $8.838 billion during the week ended on Mar 15, on account of $1bn received from the United Arab Emirates.

The UAE had promised to deposit $3bn in the SBP account with the second tranche of $1bn landing on Mar 13. This took the total foreign exchange reserves of the country to $15.7bn — a six-month high.

The total foreign liquid reserves stood at $14.92bn in September 2018, which kept falling till inflows started pouring in from Saudi Arabia and UAE. The two Gulf countries had promised to place $6bn collectively in SBP account, of which $5bn have been deposited.

Holdings of commercial banks also increased to $6.87bn, hitting an all-time high.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2019