State Bank of Pakistan’s foreign reserves ease to $11.85 billion

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) saw its reserves drop by $228 million during the week ending December 20, bringing them to $11.854 billion.

This decrease was due to external debt repayments.

Pakistan's total liquid foreign reserves reached $16.372 billion as of December 20, which is enough to cover 2.2 months of imports.

Commercial banks' net foreign reserves stood at $4.518 billion.

In the first five months of fiscal year 2025, Pakistan borrowed $2.667 billion from various sources, a 38% decrease from the $4.285 billion borrowed in the same period last year. Including a $1.03 billion tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), total inflows reached $3.697 billion. Pakistan is expected to receive a second $1.1 billion tranche from the IMF in March 2025.

During this period, multilateral receipts were $1.46 billion, up from $787 million last year. Major contributors included the Asian Development Bank ($768 million), the World Bank’s International Development Association ($305 million), the Islamic Development Bank ($119 million), and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development ($110 million).

Bilateral funding for July-November this year amounted to $269 million, compared with $583 million in the same period last year.