Shares at the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark index gained more than 800 points in the intraday trade as the International Monetary Fund and Pakistan make “significant progress” towards reaching a staff-level agreement for an extended fund facility. According to the PSX website, the KSE-100 index climbed 853.64 points to reach 75,968.11 levels, appreciating by 1.14% against the previous closing of 75,114.47 levels. Earlier in the day, a statement from the IMF said that the authorities’ reform program “aims to move Pakistan from economic stabilisation to strong, inclusive, and resilient” growth. “The mission and the authorities will continue policy discussions virtually over the coming days aiming to finalise discussions, including the financial support needed to underpin the authorities’ reform efforts from the IMF and Pakistan’s bilateral and multilateral partners,” IMF mission chief Nathan Porter said.

The total liquid foreign reserves of Pakistan increased to $14,585.4 million while those held by the State Bank of Pakistan further inched up to reach $9,157 million in the week ended on May 17. The SBP, in a press release on Thursday, said that the foreign reserves held by it increased by $22 million to $9,157.0 million while the net foreign reserves held by the commercial banks were recorded at $5,428.4 million during the week under review. The total liquid foreign reserves of the country, in the previous week ended on May 10, were $14,626.4 million, including $9,135.5 million held by the SBP and $5,490.9 million by commercial banks.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan