Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves rise by $66m

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank rose by $66 million to $3.258 billion in the week ending February 17, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday. The SBP said total liquid foreign reserves stood at $8.726 billion. Pakistan, which is a $350bn economy, is facing economic turmoil, with a balance of payment crisis and only enough foreign exchange reserves to cover three weeks of imports. Islamabad is expecting external financing inflows after a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is finalised, something that is likely this month. If the IMF deal is done and approved by its board, that will issue a $1bn funding that will also unlock other bilateral and multilateral inflows. A well-placed source told Dawn that Pakistan and IMF will sign the staff-level agreement on Feb 28. This will be followed, according to the source, by the IMF executive board meeting expected in the first week of March.