Dollar inflows from next week will improve reserves: SBP governor

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad said on Wednesday that the country would start receiving US dollar inflows from next week, which would help shore up the central bank’s rapidly depleting foreign exchange reserves. Addressing businessmen at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), he acknowledged that the country’s reserves had fallen quite low but added that projects in the pipeline would help improve them, according to a report by Mettis Global. In the absence of any dollar inflows from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or friendly countries, the central bank’s forex reserves dropped to $4.34 billion in the week ending Jan 6, the lowest since February 2014. The country has been facing a serious dollar shortage, which is resulting in restricted imports of even food and industrial raw materials. The latest position of foreign exchange reserves reflects that the country doesn’t have sufficient dollars to cover even one month of average imports.