Forex reserves fall to $14.613 billion

KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves fell 1.60 percent to $14.613 billion during the week ended October 12, the central bank said on Thursday.

The reserves stood at $14.852 billion in the previous week. The reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decreased by $219 million to $8.089 billion due to external debt servicing and other official payments.

The reserves of the commercial banks came in at $6.525 billion, compared with $6.544 billion a week ago. The country’s forex reserves are on the decline amid ballooning current account deficit and heavy foreign debt repayments. The country has to make $8 billion external debt repayments by December this year.