At the end of the calendar year 2014, Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves witnessed a sharp increase of over $7 billion while commercial banks showed a decline during the period.
The State Bank’s latest report shows the government succeeded to improve its performance on external front despite huge debt servicing of about $7bn in FY14 and a deficit of over $3bn in the current account.
According to the SBP data, the foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank on January 3, 2014 were $3.245bn which jumped to $10.364bn at the end of December 2014, an increase of $7.119bn.
After a stressful beginning, Pakistan’s balance of payments improved considerably by June 2014.
The SBP’s liquid foreign exchange (FX) reserves posted an increase of $3.1bn, compared to a cumulative decline of $8.8 billion in FY12 and FY13.