KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank rose by $29 million to $11.29 billion in the week ending November 15, the State Bank of Pakistan said on Thursday.

The country’s forex reserves inched up by $2 million to $15.968 billion. However, the reserves of commercial banks decreased by $27 million to $4.68 billion.The ongoing improvement in the external current account due to higher remittances and a gradual recovery in exports helped increase the forex reserves.

Moreover, the country received the first tranche from the International Monetary Fund’s Extended Fund Facility programme in late September. The SBP’s dollar buying from the interbank market also contributed to the buildup of the reserves.

Pakistan recorded a current account surplus of $218 million in July-October FY25, compared with a deficit of $1.528 billion in the same period last fiscal year.In October, the current account surplus increased by a significant 306 per cent month-on-month (MoM) to $349 million, marking the third consecutive month of surplus. In October of the last year, the country had a deficit of $287 million.

Overseas Pakistani workers remitted $11.85 billion in the period from July to October FY25, which is a 35 per cent increase compared with a year earlier. In October alone, remittances rose by 24 per cent year-on-year and by 7.0 per cent month-on-month, totalling $3.052 billion.

The country’s goods exports increased by 9.0 per cent, reaching $10.508 billion in the first four months of the current fiscal year. Exports rose by 15 per cent MoM and 11 per cent YoY, amounting to $3.022 billion in October.

With a manageable current account deficit and the realisation of planned official inflows, foreign exchange reserves are expected to increase to $13 billion by June 2025, according to the SBP.