Increased by $18.5 million to $8.04 billion, SBP’s foreign exchange reserves

On March 22, the foreign exchange reserves of the central bank were valued at $8.22 billion.

The SBP did not provide an explanation for the reserve increase.

Meanwhile, the commercial banks’ foreign exchange reserves decreased by $67.2 million over the course of the week that concluded on March 29 to reach $5.3 billion from the previous total of $5.4 billion.

Pakistan’s total foreign exchange reserves decreased to $13.38 billion from $13.42 billion the week before, a $48.7 million decrease.

According to figures released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), during the first nine months of the current fiscal year (2023–24), exports from Pakistan rose by 8.93% as compared to the same period the previous year.

From July to March of 2023–24, the nation’s exports increased by 8.93% to $22.91 billion from $21.03 billion during the same period in 2022–2023.

Pakistan’s imports this year have dropped by 8.65% to $39.94 billion from $43.72 billion.

The data shows a notable decrease of 24.94% in the trade deficit from $22.68 billion during the same time last year to $17.03 billion for the first nine months of the current fiscal year.