KARACHI: The country’s foreign exchange reserves have dropped further and reached $16.852 billion for the week that ended on November 19, 2010, State Bank’s statistics revealed on Thursday.
According to the central bank, the country’s foreign exchange reserves contracted $57.4 million or 0.33 percent in the week under review against $16.910 billion last week.
“The state bank’s reserves registered a nominal dip due to routine debt payments,” SBP Chief Spokesman Syed Wasimuddin told Pakistan Today, while he reasoned the negative growth.
Foreign exchange reserves with the central bank weakened $18 million in the week under review and reached $13.09 billion compared to $13.127 billion last week.
However, a significant slump in the foreign exchange reserves appeared in commercial banks’, which during the said week marked a decline of $39.4 million or one percent compared to last week and possessed net foreign exchange reserves worth $3.743 billion.
Foreign reserves of commercial banks stood at $3.782 billion last week. “Normal customers’ withdrawals from the commercial banks seem to be the
apparent reason for this dip in the banks reserves,” viewed a banker while commenting on the slump.
