The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank decreased by over 10percent on a weekly basis, according to data released by the State Bank ofPakistan (SBP) on Thursday.
On November 4, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recordedat $7.957 billion, down $956 million compared to $8.913 billion on October28.
In a statement, the central bank said that the massive decline in reserveswas due to external debt servicing.
The central bank statement said that major external debt repaymentsexecuted during the week included repayment of commercial loans.Refinancing of these loans is in the process which will improve foreignexchange reserves in the coming weeks, the statement added.
Overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including netreserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $13.721 billion. Netreserves held by banks stood at $5.764 billion, registering a decrease of$2 million.
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It is pertinent to mention here that last week the central bank reserveshad increased significantly due to the receipt of $1.5 billion from theAsian Development Bank (ADB).
However, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), on Wednesday,approved a $500 million loan that would stand transferred to Pakistan thismonth which will likely boost the reserves.
