The liquid foreign exchange reserves held directly by the State Bank of Pakistan experienced a marginal increase, climbing by 43.4 million dollars over the course of a single week. According to the latest statistical data released by the central banking authority, this represents a week-on-week growth of 0.25 percent, bringing the total official reserves held by the state institution to 17.19 billion dollars for the week that concluded on May 29, 2026. This positive movement in central bank reserves reflects minor inflows that helped stabilize the country’s sovereign financial cushion during the designated seven-day operational period.
In contrast to the gains recorded by the central bank, the overall consolidated reserves of the country witnessed a slight reduction. Pakistan’s total liquid foreign reserves decreased by 10.5 million dollars, marking a week-on-week drop of 0.05 percent to settle at a total of 22.64 billion dollars. This minor contraction in the aggregated reserves position indicates that the foreign currency outflows originating from outside the central banking framework marginally outpaced the internal reserve accumulation managed by the state monetary authority during the final week of May.
The primary driver behind the overall reduction in national liquid reserves was a contraction in the holdings of domestic financial institutions. The net foreign reserves held by commercial banks across Pakistan fell by 53.9 million dollars, representing a week-on-week decline of 0.98 percent. This drop pulled the total foreign currency cash balances managed by commercial banking institutions down to 5.45 billion dollars, compared to the 5.50 billion dollars recorded during the preceding week ending May 22, 2026. Such fluctuations in commercial bank balances are typically influenced by routine import payments, private cross-border remittances, and shifting corporate demands for foreign currency.
A detailed review of the weekly accounting data provides a clearer picture of the structural changes within the national balance sheet. For the week ending May 29, 2026, the State Bank of Pakistan held exactly 17,190.4 million dollars, rising from the 17,147.0 million dollars logged the prior week. Meanwhile, commercial banks saw their positions drop from 5,499.5 million dollars to 5,445.6 million dollars. This left the collective national financial reserve pool at 22,636.0 million dollars, down slightly from the previous cumulative standing of 22,646.5 million dollars. These regular monetary tracking updates remain highly critical for macroeconomic analysts monitoring the broader external account stability, currency value trends, and debt repayment capacities of Pakistan.
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