As of August this year, the central bank borrowed $5.77 billion from commercial banks under the forward and currency swap arrangements, according to the SBP data. The $5.8 billion is also shown as part of both central bank and commercial banks’ reserves, according to sources. Usable foreign currency reserves available with all commercial banks were $1.4 billion after excluding $5.8 billion in short-term loans. However, to protect the depositors’ reserves, the central bank had started reporting separately both the official and private currency reserves. Then another $4 billion has to be excluded on account of Saudi Arabian ($2 billion) and United Arab Emirates ($2 billion) short-term loans.

Source: The Express Tribune October 10, 2020 02:48 UTC