KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $70 million to $11.516 billion in the week ending May 23, the central bank said on Thursday.

However, the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country dropped by $12 million to $16.637 billion. Similarly, the reserves of commercial banks fell by $81 million to $5.12 billion.

The SBP managed to increase its reserves despite external debt repayments, thanks to a current account surplus. Additionally, inflows from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and rollovers from friendly nations played a crucial role in bolstering forex reserves. The SBP received the second tranche of $1.023 billion from the IMF under a $7 billion loan programme on May 13.

The SBP purchased $5.9 billion from the interbank market between June 2024 and February 2025 to boost its reserves and meet external debt repayments. In February, the SBP bought $223 million worth of foreign currency from the market, up from $154 million in the previous month.

In April, the current account surplus dropped to $12 million, a staggering 99 per cent decrease from the month before. The surplus fell by 96 per cent year on year. The surplus during the first 10 months of fiscal year 2025 was $1.88 billion, which is a substantial improvement over the $1.33 billion deficit for the same period the previous year.