KARACHI: The foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan increased by $43 million to $9.509 billion during the week ended on Sept 13.

The central bank reported that the country’s total reserves improved to $14.826bn, including $5.316bn held by commercial banks.

The SBP did not mention the source of this inflow, but the currency market experts said the central bank is the regular buyer of dollars from the interbank market.

The government believes that the State Bank’s reserves will reach $13bn by the end of FY25 despite massive debt repayments of $26.2bn during the current fiscal year. The expected IMF inflows are insufficient to increase SBP reserves to $13bn.

Meanwhile, the rupee on Thursday strengthened against the dollar, hitting a five-month high.

The SBP reported that the dollar was settled at Rs277.91 in the interbank market against Rs278.04 a day earlier, a rise of 14 paise.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2024