KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan's own foreign exchange holdings just climbed past their previous peak, and a $3 billion bond sale abroad did almost all the work.
SBP reserves rose $3.061 billion in the week ending September 11 to reach $21,389 million, surging beyond the roughly $20.15 billion level the central bank last posted in August 2021. Add in what commercial banks hold, and Pakistan's total liquid foreign reserves stand at $26,791.2 million.
Pakistan Foreign Reserves Jump on $3 Billion Eurobond
The central bank didn't hide the reason. Eurobond proceeds drove almost the entire gain. Islamabad returned to the international bond market this month and sold $3 billion in paper split across two tranches: $1.75 billion maturing in five and a half years, $1.25 billion stretching out to ten. Investors didn't just show up, they offered nearly $6 billion against bonds worth half that amount.
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It isn't a one-off spike. A week earlier, SBP reserves jumped $1.21 billion to $18,328.2 million following the receipt of government commercial loan proceeds. String the two weeks together and the central bank has added roughly $4.27 billion to its foreign exchange holdings in just fourteen days.
Commercial banks added their own quieter gain, rising $14.6 million to $5,402.2 million. Modest next to the SBP's increase, but enough to push Pakistan's overall liquid foreign exchange reserves to $26.79 billion.
Pakistan Rebuilds Its Dollar Buffer After 2023 Crisis
Zoom out and the recovery becomes even more striking. Pakistan's central bank reserves had fallen to precariously low levels during the 2023 external financing crisis. Three years later, SBP holds more than $21 billion, dramatically expanding the country's buffer against external payments and import pressures.
The longer-term test, however, remains import coverage. SBP has projected that its foreign exchange reserves will move toward the equivalent of three months of imports during FY27. Reaching that level would strengthen Pakistan's ability to absorb external shocks and meet foreign currency obligations without the acute dollar shortages that defined the 2022-23 crisis.
None of this erases the underlying picture. The Eurobond money is fresh borrowing, not exports or remittances — a real cushion, but a borrowed one. Debt servicing and the import bill will keep testing these reserves in the months ahead, and a bond-driven jump says more about market access returning than about the current account fixing itself.
Still, for a country that spent 2022 and 2023 in default-risk headlines, a reserve print that clears the previous peak changes the tone of the conversation even if the underlying debt arithmetic hasn't gone anywhere.