KARACHI, July 17: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves fell $292 million to $10.83 billion in the week that ended on July 12, due to heavy outgoings for import payments.

According to official data, the State Bank of Pakistan said its reserves fell $371 million to $7.953 billion, while those held by commercial banks rose $79 million to $2.877 billion from $2.798 billion.

The country’s reserves hit an all-time high of $16.486 billion on October 31, 2007, but have fallen since then because of rising oil payments and foreign investor’s pulling money out because of political uncertainty in the country.

Analysts said the country’s total reserves were barely enough to cover the import bill for the next three months.

The central bank in May increased its key discount rate to 12.0 per cent from 10.5 per cent, to counter accelerating inflation and widening fiscal and current account deficits.

Analysts expect the central bank to raise rates again in the coming weeks.—Reuters