Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have increased by more than $3 billion in a week. By September 11, $21.39 billion of foreign exchange reserves reached the State Bank of Pakistan. This is the highest level in the history of the bank. Including State Bank and other banks, Pakistan’s total foreign exchange reserves have reached $26.79 billion. This is the highest since September 2021. However, the major reason for this sudden increase is foreign debt. Pakistan had issued Eurobonds to raise funds from the international market. This added a large amount of dollars to its reserves. That means this money coming into the reserve is not completely new earnings. Shahbaz said – increasing reserves is the success of economic policies. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif praised Finance Minister Mohammad Aurangzeb, State Bank Governor Jamil Ahmed and his economic team for reaching the record level of foreign exchange reserves. He also thanked Pakistanis living abroad for their contribution to this achievement. Shahbaz said that the record foreign exchange reserves with the State Bank is the result of the continuous hard work of the economic team of the government. He called it a sign that the government’s economic policies are moving in the right direction. He also said that with Pakistan’s return to the international capital market, the confidence of world investors in its economy is increasing. Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $3.06 billion in the week ending September 11. According to the State Bank, the main reason for this was the money received from Eurobonds. Eurobond is a type of bond issued to take loan from the foreign market. Investors who buy it give money to the government. The government returns this amount with interest after the stipulated time. Pakistan raised funds by issuing Eurobonds in the international market and included it in its foreign exchange reserves. Therefore, increase in reserves does not mean that Pakistan has earned so much new income in a week. At present he definitely has dollars, but a large part of them has come in the form of loan. This has given Pakistan more scope for making foreign payments. But to repay this loan, it will have to raise foreign currency again. How many dollars does Pakistan have right now? A week ago, total reserves were $23.72 billion. That means it increased by about $3.08 billion in just seven days. Total reserves are still slightly below the September 2021 level of around $27.1 billion. However, the reserves of $ 21.39 billion held by the State Bank alone are the highest till date. What benefit does Pakistan get from increasing reserves? The increase in foreign exchange reserves means that Pakistan now has a large buffer of dollars. He can use these dollars to buy oil, machinery, raw materials and other essential items. Dollars are also needed to repay installments and interest on foreign loans. Pakistan’s total reserves of $26.79 billion are equal to the import expenditure of about three months. This means the current reserve is equal to the average import bill of about three months. This does not mean that Pakistan can survive for three months without earning any new dollars. Pakistanis working abroad also got help. For Pakistan, the money coming from people working abroad i.e. remittance is also a big source of foreign exchange. In August, Pakistan received remittances worth about $3.66 billion. In July this amount was about 3.63 billion dollars. During the same period, Pakistan’s loss in transactions with the rest of the world was only 98 million dollars. This loss in July was $445 million. That is, the situation improved in August compared to July, but the deficit still persists. Pakistan is still spending more dollars on imports. In August, Pakistan imported goods and services worth about $6.64 billion, while its exports stood at about $3.33 billion. This means that Pakistan is not able to earn by selling the same number of dollars worth of goods and services that it is buying from abroad. Pakistan’s total loss in July-August 2026 was around $543 million. It was $853 million in the same period of the last financial year. This shows that the external account position has improved, but Pakistan’s foreign exchange needs are still high. Now the biggest challenge is to maintain the reserves. Now merely increasing the foreign exchange reserves will not be enough for Pakistan. He will also have to maintain this in the coming months. Three things will be important for this: Pakistan’s import bill may increase especially if the price of oil increases. This will again put pressure on its foreign exchange reserves. There will also be pressure on loan installments. Despite record reserves, Pakistan has to repay old loans. It has to make several payments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between September and December 2026. Pakistan is also trying to garner financial help and foreign exchange from other countries. According to Reuters, Pakistan is considering extending a 30 billion yuan currency swap arrangement with China in 2027. Currency swap is an arrangement between two countries in which they provide each other’s currency on fixed terms so that there is no shortage of foreign currency in times of need. At the same time, Pakistan is also in talks with America regarding an exchange stabilization facility worth $10 billion. This is a financial facility provided to manage the economic situation in case of shortage of foreign exchange or pressure in the market. Apart from this, Pakistan’s $7 billion IMF program is also continuing. ——————– Also read this news… After Pakistan, Turkey’s drone unit in Bangladesh also. After Pakistan, now Turkey is expanding the scope of its defense technology in Bangladesh also. Both the countries are preparing to make drones together. Read the full news…
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