The country’s foreign exchange reserves inched up by 0.4 per cent or $ 68 million during the week ended on January 27. The slight increase in the country’s dollar holdings is attributable to an upsurge in the commercial banks’ reserves. The State Bank of Pakistan Thursday reported that during the week under review the country’s dollar reserves increased to $ 16.870 billion against $ 16.802 billion of the previous week that ended on January 20.
The review period saw the State Bank’s foreign exchange reserves declining by $ 30 million to $ 12.523 billion compared to last week’s $ 12.553 billion. However, the commercial banks held dollars more than they did last week as their reserves climbed by 2.3 per cent or $ 99 million to $ 4.347 billion against $ 4.248 billion of a week earlier. The analysts attribute the current downward trend in country’s dollar reserves to mainly the increasing import payments plus the retirement of external debts that, according to SBP, have accumulated to over $ 60 billion.
