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After debt repayments in coming months, SBP’s own net reserves will be a mere $4.5 billion

Confirmation of this figure fudging as set out in the artice by another Pakistani Economist. (watch from 10:30 onwards)


Ignoring the Disease will NOT HELP. DO SOMETHING TO CURE IT. Its really sad that some people will deny anything under the garb of pseudo patriotism / misplaced ego. Or maybe for some ignorance is bliss.

Also this is nothing new and the issue has been covered before in the media :

ISLAMABAD:

The central bank has borrowed a whopping $3.93 billion mainly from commercial banks for up to three months to artificially sustain official foreign exchange reserves at $16 billion level, which had started depleting due to a sudden spike in imports.


The act of the central bank is in violation of the terms and conditions agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the $6.2 billion Extended Fund Facility three-and-a-half-year ago. However, the agreement had expired in September 2016 paving the way for the central bank to avail the loan.

The aggregate short position in forward and future contracts has alarmingly increased to $3.925 billion as of end March this year, revealed official data of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

The $3.925 billion loan is part of the $16 billion reserves held by the SBP that are currently under pressure due to growing obligations of debt servicing and imports of heavy machinery under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

More than half of these short-term borrowings are only for one month and the remaining loans have been obtained for two to three months, according to the SBP data.

In absolute terms, $2.1 billion has been borrowed for one month and $1.825 billion for two to three months. The short-term loan has been obtained from the market, predominately from commercial banks that hold $5.1 billion of their depositors.

The $3.93 billion forward position has raised the issue of double-counting of the foreign currency reserves, said former economic adviser to the Ministry of Finance Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1397829/sbp-borrows-3-93b-bolster-forex-reserves/
 
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