What happened
Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) rose to $16.055 billion during the week ending 2 January 2026, the highest level the central bank has reported since FY21, according to the State Bank’s weekly foreign-exchange reserve data and Dawn’s 9 January 2026 report. The $141 million week-on-week increase lifted headline reserves $1.155 billion above the $14.5bn plateau that had held since June 2025 and crossed the $16bn mark for the first time in roughly four years.
Total liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, which combine SBP holdings with the net foreign currency balances of commercial banks, stood at $21.19bn at the close of the week. Commercial banks themselves held a net $5.136bn. Together, the figures place the country in what analysts described as “a comfortable position, for now” — an upgrade from the position in mid-2023, when reserves touched a low of $4.44bn and the country was, by the central bank’s own subsequent account, close to default. Profit’s 8 January 2026 coverage of the same weekly release reported an almost identical reserve figure to the one Dawn published the following day.
What drove the build-up
The climb was the product of two reinforcing flows. The State Bank continued to buy dollars from the inter-bank currency market on a heavy scale through the final quarter of 2025, drawing on what analysts said were persistent current-account surpluses and a record inflow of workers’ remittances. Reserves had already crossed $15.88bn on 12 December; the latest week added the final $170m to break through the $16bn line.
The reserve run-up matters because it changes the country’s standing on its external obligations. Pakistan paid roughly $26bn in debt servicing in FY25 and faces a near-identical bill in FY26, a schedule that has governed the rupee’s recent stability and the central bank’s willingness to defend it through managed interventions rather than letting the rate float freely. Higher reserves reduce the immediate risk premium on upcoming rollovers and lower the implicit cost of each dollar the State Bank must spend on debt repayments as they fall due.
The weekly data is the State Bank’s primary public record on reserves. Dawn’s reporting on the 9 January figure drew on that weekly PDF and compared the new level with the FY21 peak of $17.29bn, the trough of $4.44bn in FY23 and the $14.5bn plateau that had held from June 2025 to mid-December 2025. The same article noted that the headline number does not reflect the country’s full foreign-currency obligations, including the short-term external debt that the central bank and finance ministry track separately.
What is still uncertain
The headline figure does not capture how the reserve mix is changing, and how durable each flow is. Workers’ remittances have held up strongly through 2025 but are exposed to Gulf labour-market conditions and to exchange-rate differentials that drive informal hawala channels; the same Dawn article described the inflows as the principal driver of the recent build-up, without quantifying the share attributable to remittances versus inter-bank dollar purchases.
The $16bn figure is also a stock measure; the question of whether it will be defended, spent down on debt repayments, or built further depends on the rollover calendar and on whether the central bank continues to intervene in the inter-bank market. The FY21 peak of $17.29bn was reached when imports were compressed and the rupee was effectively held at a stable parity; analysts quoted in Dawn framed the current $16bn level as a “comfortable” interim position rather than a permanent new floor. Future weekly reports will reveal whether the run-up has stalled or whether the central bank continues to accumulate at the recent pace.
The reserves also do not reflect the position on outstanding external liabilities, including the loans and rollovers that the IMF programme and bilateral partners have structured around Pakistan’s FY26 repayment schedule. The next major reset will come when the central bank publishes its next weekly statement and the finance ministry updates its external financing outlook.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 9 January 2026.
- State Bank of Pakistan — Liquid Foreign Exchange Reserves (weekly PDF)Week ending 2 January 2026 · Primary record: confirms the $16.055bn SBP reserve level, the $141m week-on-week change and the $5.136bn commercial-bank net holding.
- Dawn — Forex coffers rise to $16bn, highest level since FY21Published 9 January 2026 · Contemporaneous reporting that situates the 2 January 2026 reading against the FY21 peak of $17.29bn, the FY23 trough of $4.44bn and the $14.5bn plateau that ran from June 2025 to mid-December 2025, and attributes the recent build-up to inter-bank dollar purchases and record remittance inflows.
- Profit — Pakistan foreign exchange reserves edge up $141 million to $21.19 billionPublished 8 January 2026 · Independent contemporaneous reporting of the same SBP weekly release: confirms the $141m weekly rise to $16.056bn, the $5.137bn commercial-bank net holding, and the $21.192bn total liquid reserves as of 2 January 2026.
