KARACHI – The country’s liquid foreign exchange reserves underwent a slender increase of $27.4 million and reached $16.417 billion during the week ending on December 11, the State Bank said on Saturday.
The week under review saw the foreign exchange reserves held by the country augment 0.16 percent. Foreign exchange reserves had dwindled $350 million and reached $16.39 billion in the week ending on December 4.
The funds-starved country’s foreign exchange reserves had faced a constant dip in recent times subject to regular debt payments and cash withdrawals from the commercial banks.
The current week, however, came with an upset as the reserves ballooned to $16.417 billion. Reserves possessed by the State Bank stood at 12.693 billion on December 11 against the previous $12.653 billion, up by $40 million or 0.31 percent compared to last week.
However, foreign exchange reserves held by the commercial banks sustained the downward trend to stand at $3.724 billion as compared to last week’s $3.737 billion. According to SBP Chief Spokesman Syed Wasimuddin, such nominal declines in foreign exchange reserves of commercial banks are a result of cash withdrawals by account holders.
