State Bank reserves deplete to $5.6bn.

KARACHI -- State Bank of Pakistan's (SBP) foreign exchange reserves hit an eight-year low at $5.576 billion during the week ended on Dec 30, 2022.

Despite fast dwindling SBP reserves, Finance MinisAter Ishaq Dar is still hopeful about reverting the situation with expected financial help promised by the friendly countries, but nothing has been realised so far.

During the week the SBP foreign exchange reserves saw an outflow of $245 million for external debt repayments.

Foreign debt servicing is the most troubling question for the PMLN-led coalition government facing a serious threat of default. Several attempts to restart talks with the IMF for the release of the next tranche have so far remained unfruitful.

The falling reserves have already deeply devalued the local currency against the US dollar and other major currencies. The SBP's foreign exchange reserves dipped $11bn to $5.6bn from $16.6bn in JanAuary 2022.

This massive decline left no space for the...