The country’s liquid foreign exchange reserves once again moved northward due to increase in dollar holdings of the commercial banks, the central bank reported Thursday. According to State Bank, up till February 10th, the country held $16.768 billion compared $16.689 billion of the previous week. This shows a growth of $79 million or 0.4 per cent over the last week. The State Bank’s dollar reserves, however, moved downward and slid by $38 million or 0.3 per cent to $12.286 billion against the previous $12.324 billion.
The banks’ dollar reserves, a major stimulus for the country’s total liquid reserves, registered an encouraging increase of $117 million or 2.6 per cent to stand at $4.482 billion against $4.365 billion of a week earlier. The analysts and the State Bank attribute contraction in the SBP’s exchange reserves, to increased import payments and the repayment of the country’s external debts that, according to central bank, have aggregated to over $60 billion.