By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Pakistan received a $705.6 million tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a $2 billion rollover of deposits from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday, boosting its foreign exchange reserves that have been under pressure due to debt repayments and low inflows.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said it had received Special Drawing Rights (SDR) 528 million (equivalent to $705.6 million) from the IMF following the successful completion of the first review under the Stand By Arrangement (SBA) programme.
“This disbursement will be reflected in SBP Reserves for the week ending on 19th January 2024.”
The SBP also said that the UAE had confirmed the rollover of its two deposits of $1 billion each placed with the SBP for another one year, which were maturing in January 2024.
The latest developments are expected to improve Pakistan’s economic outlook, as the country faces a low level of foreign exchange reserves amid repayments and low non-debt-creating dollar inflows.
The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank decreased by $66 million to $8.15 billion as of Jan. 5, while the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $13.25 billion. The SBP had attributed the decline in the reserves to debt repayments.
Pakistan entered a $3 billion IMF programme in July 2023 to stave off a balance of payments crisis. The IMF has so far disbursed about $2.2 billion to Pakistan under the SBA programme.
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