Pakistan:Debts rises,Foreign reserves fall

Pakistan's Central Bank's foreigh exchange reserves fell 0.61 per cent on a weekly basis, according to State Bank of Pakistan's data. On September 3, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at USD 20,022.6 million, down USD 123 million compared with USD 20,145.6 million recorded on August 27, reported The Express Tribune. The decrease came due to the external debt repayments, the central bank stated.

Overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at USD 27,102.6 million. Net reserves held by banks amounted to USD 7,080 million, reported The Tribune Express. On August 27, the foreign exchange reserves which were held by Pakistan's central bank increased to USD 20.15 billion, after the country received an allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) worth USD 2,751.8 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on August 24.Pakistan had borrowed USD 2.5 billion through Eurobonds, by offering profitable interest rates to the lender.It received the first loan tranche of USD 991.4 million from the IMF on July 9, 2019, which helped bolster the reserves. In late December 2019, the IMF released the second loan tranche of around USD 454 million. The reserves also jumped on account of USD 2.5 billion in inflows from China.

As per the annual report by SBP, Pakistan's financial woes intensified under Prime Minister Imran Khan three-year tenure. Islamabad's debt's current stands at 399 trillion. Pakistan's economy, which was already struggling to stay afloat, was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The annual report released by State Bank of Pakistan shows government debts at 399 trillion and of this, debts rose by Rs 149 trillion during three years under PTI and this debt raised by the PTI government is equal to 80 per cent of debts raised by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) during ten years of their rule.