Karachi: The forex reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) took another dip of $190 million and dropped to $8.385 billion as of July 29, from $8.575 billion on July 22, the SBP said on Thursday.
According to the weekly data shared by the central bank, as of July 29, the total reserves held by the country fell from $14.41 billion on July 22 to $14.2 billion on July 29.
During the same period under review, the net reserves held by the commercial banks also dropped by $16 million to $5.823 billion from $5.839 billion.
Rupee gets major gains against USD
On Thursday, continuing its upward trend against the US dollar, the Pakistani rupee closed at 226.15 in the interbank at the end of today’s business day.
The PKR posted an appreciation of 1.17pc against the USD.
Read: Rupee closes at 226.15 against US dollar after 1.17pc appreciation
Thursday’s appreciation in PKR value followed Wednesday’s massive recovery when the PKR closed at 228.8, an appreciation of Rs9.58 or 4.19% against the greenback. That was the highest ever appreciation in the value of the local currency against the USD.
46.8pc trade deficit during July
The first month of the current fiscal year saw a major decline in exports as it dropped by 24pc month-on-month basis to $2.2 billion during July of the fiscal year 2023 from June’s $2.9 billion, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics reported on Tuesday.
According to the PBS, there was also a major downshift in the total imports as it also dropped by 38.3pc to $4.861 billion compared to a $7.9 billion recorded during June 2022.
The report also showed that the imbalance between imports and exports dropped to 46.76pc on MoM and stood at $2.642 billion in July 2022 compared to $4.962 billion in June 2022.
On a year-on-year basis, the trade deficit narrowed by 18.33pc and remained at $2.642 billion in July 2022 compared to $3.235 billion in July 2021.
Read: Exports down 24pc in July: PBS
Read: Pakistan’s Current Account Deficit crosses $17B mark during FY22
