Karachi: The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) dropped to $4.2 billion because the cash-strapped country is still unable to get outside financing, even though it has tried to restart a stalled bailout plan.
In its bulletin, the SBP said that as of the week ending May 19, its funds dropped by $119 million and now at $4.19 billion. Arif Habib Limited said that the reserves would cover imports for less than a month.
The net foreign reserves owned by commercial banks are $5.53 billion, which is $1.34 billion more than the central bank and brings the total liquid foreign exchange reserves to $9.7 billion.
To be continued…
