Pak’s forex reserves rise to $11.85 bln

KARACHI (SANA): Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $130 million in the week that ended on Aug. 8 to $11.85 billion from $11.72 billion the previous week, the central bank said.

The State Bank of Pakistan’s reserves rose to $8.36 billion from $8.31 billion a week earlier, while reserves held by commercial banks also rose to $3.49 billion from the previous week’s $3.41 billion, the central bank said in a statement.

Foreign reserves hit a record high of $16.5 billion in October 2007 but fell steadily to $6.6 billion by November of last year, largely because of a soaring import bill.

Pakistan agreed in November to an International Monetary Fund emergency loan package of $7.6 billion to avert a balance of payments crisis and shore up reserves. The fund last week increased the loan to $11.3 billion.

The IMF has released a third tranche of $1.2 billion, which was received on Wednesday and will be reflected in next week’s data.

On Aug. 1, the central bank stopped using foreign exchange to pay for diesel and other refined petroleum products, which will force importers to obtain the dollars they need in the market.

The central bank will continue to provide foreign exchange for crude oil imports until Feb. 1 next year.link...