Pakistan’s State Bank-held foreign exchange reserves edged up by $11 million to $21.57 billion in the week ended November 6, 2026, the central bank reported, even as the country’s total liquid reserves slipped slightly from last week’s record high as commercial banks’ holdings declined.
According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and reported by Business Recorder, the central bank’s own reserves rose to $21,572.5 million from roughly $21,561.5 million a week earlier. Commercial banks, however, saw their net reserves fall to about $5.266 billion, down from $5.303 billion the previous week, according to Dawn. That drag pulled the country’s combined liquid reserves down to $26.838 billion, a modest dip from the $26.864 billion record high reported the previous week.
| Reserve Component | Oct 30, 2026 | Nov 6, 2026 | Weekly Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| SBP-held reserves | $21.568 billion | $21.573 billion | +$11 million |
| Commercial banks’ net reserves | $5.303 billion | $5.266 billion | -$37 million |
| Total liquid reserves | $26.864 billion | $26.838 billion | -$26 million |
Neither Dawn nor Business Recorder offered an official explanation for this particular week’s movement, and no SBP spokesperson was quoted beyond the bank’s standard weekly data statement: “During the week ended on 06-Nov-2026, SBP’s FX reserves increased by US$ 11 million to US$ 21,572.5 million,” the central bank said in its release, as quoted by Business Recorder.
The broader picture still points upward. Pakistan’s reserve build-up has been steady since the Gulf war erupted on February 28 this year, when the SBP’s own holdings stood at roughly $16.57 billion. Since then, the central bank has added more than $5 billion to its war chest, a cushion officials and analysts have credited to continued disbursements under the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility and Resilience and Sustainability Facility, multilateral and commercial inflows, and steady proceeds from Pakistan’s Panda bond issuance, even as the country keeps meeting regular external debt repayments.
This week’s dip in commercial banks’ holdings is a reminder that the reserve build-up isn’t a straight line — bank-held dollars move with import payments, debt servicing and day-to-day treasury operations, and can swing from week to week even while the SBP’s own position holds steady or improves. For now, the SBP-held figure — the number markets watch most closely as a measure of the central bank’s own firepower to defend the rupee and meet import needs — continues to inch higher.
Our Opinion
A week-on-week swing of $11 million either way is well within normal noise for a reserves position above $26 billion, so the real story here isn’t the number itself but the trend line behind it — a central bank that has added over $5 billion to its own reserves since a war disrupted regional oil markets in February, largely on the back of external financing rather than a structural turnaround in the current account. That distinction matters: reserves built on IMF tranches, bond proceeds and multilateral loans buy time and stability, but they are not the same as reserves built on exports and remittances outpacing imports, and Pakistan’s policymakers would do well to keep that difference in view rather than treat every weekly uptick as evidence the underlying problem is solved.
