April 11, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 4, 1429

KARACHI, April 10: Pakistan’s foreign reserves fell by $141 million to $13.134 billion in the week that ended on April 5, the central bank said on Thursday.

Reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan dipped to $10.991 billion from $11.1 billion a week earlier, while those held by commercial banks fell to $2.143 billion from $2.175 billion.

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves hit an all-time high of $16.486 billion on October 31. 2007 but then fell sharply, mainly because of outflows from the stock market after President Pervez Musharraf imposed state of emergency in the country on November 3.

The emergency was lifted on December 15, but foreign investors remained cautious after the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on December 27.

However, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said at a news conference on Wednesday that the foreign exchange reserves were projected to rise around $13.7 billion by the end of 2007-08.

—Reuters