The politically-embattled government has started feeling the heat as the country’s dollar reserves continue their southward journey. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani is reported on Thursday to have expressed concern over the country’s fast depleting foreign exchange reserves that, according to central bank, dropped to $16.901 billion during the week that ended on January 13. This shows a negligible decrease of $1 million over the past week when the country’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $16.901 billion. The prime minister said his government would be focusing on economic development on “top priority” basis. During the week under review, State Bank counted its dollar reserves at $12.688 billion, down by $133 million or 1.0 per cent when compared with $12.821 billion of the week ending on Jan 6. Commercial banks, however, possessed $4.213 billion, $133 million or 3.2 per cent more than they held during the previous week. The banks held $4.080 billion last week. The analysts believe that the current downward trend in dollar reserves was mainly based on the volume of import payments plus retirement of external debts that, according to State Bank of Pakistan, have aggregated to $62 billion.
