The state bank’s reserves stand at $15.91 billion

Pakistan’s liquid foreign exchange reserves saw a modest increase in the last week of 2025, with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reporting a $13 million increase in its reserves.

As on December 26, 2025, SBP’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $15.915 billion, up from $15.902 billion in the previous week. Commercial banks’ net reserves fell slightly to $5.097 billion, bringing total liquid foreign reserves to $21.012 billion.

That brings the country’s import coverage to about 3.2 months, providing a solid buffer amid ongoing external payments and debt obligations, according to AKD Securities.

Over the past three years, from 2023 to 2025, the SBP’s reserves have undergone a profound transformation, moving from the brink of crisis to a position of remarkable recovery and stability. In early 2023, reserves fell to critical lows, below $3 billion in February, barely enough to cover a few weeks of imports, amid high debt repayments, stagnant external financing and severe balance of payments pressures that have brought the country dangerously close to sovereign default. That nadir reflected years of structural challenges, including rising import bills and tight inflows, with import coverage falling below a month at worst.

The turning point came in mid-2023 with the IMF’s approval of a nine-month, $3 billion standby deal in July, supplemented by bilateral support from allies such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and China, alongside improved remittances and export performance. Stocks have begun a gradual rise, reaching around $4.5 billion by June 2023 and around $8-9 billion by the end of the year, steadily improving import coverage and mitigating immediate liquidity risks.

Meanwhile, gold prices in Pakistan fell on Thursday, tracking losses in the global gold market. In the domestic market, gold price per tola fell by Rs 2,400 to Rs 454,562.