State Bank reserves decline by $72m

The external debt repayments further slashed the foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) by $72 million to $4.31 billion during the week ending on May 12, announced the central bank on Thursday. While the fear of def­ault is haunting the country, the declining remittances and FDI inflows put the SBP’s reserves in a weaker position. Miftah Ismail, the former finance minister, said on Thursday that the government is not aware of the true extent of the economic crisis. Economist Ashfaq Hassan Khan said for the PDM government economic revival is the least priority as it is busy crushing its political rivals. The grave situation with the declining foreign exc­hange reserves could put Pakistan in trouble part­i­cularly when the IMF is not ready to extend loans.