The country’s liquid foreign exchange reserves declined by 0.7 per cent or $123 million during the week that ended on February 17, the central bank reported Thursday. According to State Bank, during the week under review, the country’s dollar reserves stood at $16.645 billion compared to $16.768 billion of the previous week. The central bank’s dollar reserves, as usual, moved downward and slid by $74 million to $12.212 billion against the previous week’s $12.286 billion. The reserves of the commercial banks also remained downward at $4.433 billion from $4.482 billion a week earlier. The analysts and SBP attribute contraction in SBP’s exchange reserves to increased import payments and repayment of the country’s external debts that, according to central bank, have aggregated to over $60 billion.