RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The country’s liquid foreign exchange reserves fell by $131 million during the last week due to external debt servicing.

According to State Bank of Pakistan’s weekly foreign exchange reserves report issued Thursday, with the current decline, Pakistan’s total foreign exchange reserves stood at $19.64 billion as on Jan 19, 2018 compared to $19.77 billion on Jan 12, 2018.

During last week, reserves held by SBP posted a declining trend, while banks’ reserves increased slightly. During the week under review, reserves held by SBP fell by $166.2 million to $13.533 billion down from $13.699 billion. The decline in SBP’s reserves occurred due to external debt servicing and other official payments.

Similarly, reserves held by banks rose by $35.1 million to $6.108 billion at the end of last week.