Islamabad (TDI): Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves closed the fiscal year on a stronger note, reaching $14.51 billion by June 30, 2025, reflecting a year-on-year increase of over $5.12 billion, according to provisional figures shared by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday.
A year ago, the reserves stood at $9.39 billion, marking a notable rise of 54.5%.
The SBP attributed the improvement to better performance in the current account and the successful materialization of expected foreign inflows.
In a volatile fiscal year, the central bank reserves had fluctuated sharply due to debt repayments and scheduled inflows.
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For instance, by April 25, 2025, the SBP’s reserves had inched up $9 million week-on-week to $10.21 billion.
However, by June 20, the country’s total foreign reserves had slipped to $14.40 billion.
Out of that, $9.06 billion was held by the central bank, while $5.33 billion sat with commercial banks.
The sharp drop in SBP’s reserves, down $2.66 billion in just one week, was linked to repayment of external commercial loans.
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But that drop didn’t last long. In the final week of June, the government brought in fresh funds.
The SBP confirmed receiving $3.1 billion in new commercial borrowing, along with over $500 million from multilateral lenders, helping the reserves bounce back.
Farkhund Yousafzai is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
