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Lahore, Pakistan: Foreign exchange reserves fell by $394 million in the week that ended July 18 to $11.85 billion, the State Bank of Pakistan said on Thursday.
The SBP’s reserves eased to $8.43 billion from $8.86 billion a week earlier, while reserves held by commercial banks rose to $3.42 billion from the previous week’s $3.38 billion, the SBP said in a statement.
Foreign reserves hit a record high of $16.5 billion in October 2007 but fell steadily to $6.6 billion by November of last year, largely because of a soaring import bill.
Pakistan agreed in November to an International Monetary Fund emergency loan package of $7.6 billion to avert a balance of payments crisis and shore up reserves.
The fund recently reviewed the country’s performance under the deal, and its board is set to meet next month to decide on a third loan tranche of roughly $875 million.
The country has also requested about $4 billion in additional financing from the IMF as “insurance” against the economic crisis.