Karachi: The forex reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) took a dip of $277.6 million and dropped to $8.346 billion as of September 16, from $8.624 billion on September 9, the SBP said on Thursday.
According to the weekly data shared by the central bank, during the week that ended on September 16, the total reserves held by the country fell from $14.31 billion to $14 billion.
Total liquid foreign #reserves held by the country stood at US$ 14.07 billion as of September 16, 2022. For details: https://t.co/WpSgomnd3v pic.twitter.com/vgsruFlvhs
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) September 23, 2022
During the same period under review, the net reserves held by the commercial banks, however, increased by $30 million to reach $5.723 billion.
Pakistan’s Current Account Deficit in August shrinks by 42% MoM
Pakistan’s Current Account Deficit (CAD) in August shrank by 42.13%, the State Bank of Pakistan reported on Wednesday.
According to the monthly report published by the Central Bank on the balance of payments, on a Month-on-Month basis, the current account deficit shrank by 42.13% during August of the fiscal year 2023 and fell to $0.7 billion from $1.21 billion recorded a month earlier.
According to the report, exports of goods in August amounted to $2.8 billion.
Similarly, imports amounted to $5.75 billion during the second month of FY23.
August trade deficit swells to $3.5 billion MoM
However, on a year-on-year basis, the current account deficit also dropped by 53.84% during August because $1.52 billion of deficit was recorded during the same period last year.
According to the State Bank, cumulatively, July-August CAD declined by $0.5 billion to $1.9 billion compared to the same period last year, mainly due to the increase in exports by $0.5 billion and contraction in imports by $0.2 billion.
