The foreign exchange reserves with the State Bank of Pakistan depleted by US$ 8.1 billion to stand at US$ 8 billion from US$ 16.2 billion after the No Confidence Motion (NCM) was moved by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led Opposition to oust the then Prime Minister Imran Khan on March 08, 2022.
State Bank of Pakistan reserves as of August 11, 2023
The data showed that the State Bank’s reserves were US$ 16,212.2 million by March 04, 2022 but they drastically fell to US$ 11,319.2 million three weeks later. It was mainly on account of repayment of about US$ 3 billion Chinese debt as well as external inflationary pressures surrounding the Russia-Ukraine conflict, combined with the uncertainty created by the NCM which resulted in the portfolio outflows.
Foreign Exchange Reserves by March 2022 end
Even the foreign reserves were well over US$ 11 billion as read US$ 11,319.2 on April 01, 2022 when the PDM took the reins of the government. However, 10 months later, the reserves with the Central Bank dropped even below US$ 3 billion. The reserves had fallen to an extremely alarming level of US$ 2.916.7 million as of February 03, 2023.
By the time, the PDM under Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif left the government, the Central Bank’s reserves were US$ 8,055.3 million on August 11, 2023.
Foreign Reserves hit lowest on February 03, 2023
It’s worth noting that also after governing the Country from June 05, 2013 to May 31, 2018 for a full five-year term, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had left merely US$ 9.51 billion in the State Bank’s reserves by May 2018 end, adding just US$ 3.23 billion to the amount in US$ 6.28 billion they had found on June 7, 2013.
Whereas the beleaguered PTI government had left US$ 11.425.1 billion in the Central Bank by March 2022 end, yet more than what their predecessor had garnered.
