The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank registered a sizeable increase for the second consecutive week, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

On June 30, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $4.462 billion, up $392 million compared to $4.070 billion on June 23. In a statement, the central bank said that the increase was mainly due to receipt of official Government of Pakistan (GoP) inflows.

Overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $9.744 billion, up $403 million over the previous week. The net reserves held by banks stood at $5.282 billion, registering an increase of $11 million during the week.

It is pertinent to mention here that International Monetary Fund (IMF) reaches a staff-level agreement with Pakistan on a $3 billion stand-by arrangement recently. The IMF Executive Board is set to meet on 12 July to approve the disbursal of an initial tranche of $1.1 billion for Pakistan under the SBA.

Recently, finance Minister Ishaq Dar also expressed hope that Pakistan’s foreign reserves will reach around $15 billion by the end of the government’s tenure. Apart from the IMF loan, the government is also expected to receive financing from friendly countries and multilateral partners, the bulk of which is expected in the current month.

Source: Pro Pakistani