KARACHI: The country’s foreign exchange reserves are reaching close to $10 billion as announced by the finance minister.

The State Bank reported on Thursday that the total reserves of the country rose to $9.648bn in the week ending March 14.

At the start of this month, the finance minister had announced that the reserves would reach $10n by the month-end.

The SBP said that the reserves rose by $185 million at $4.8bn during the week, from $2.8bn 40 days back.

However, the most significant point was that the reserves of the State Bank came at par with the holdings of the private banks.

“The increase in the reserves is attributed to receipts from multilateral, bilateral and other official sources,” said the State Bank. During the week total official foreign payments were $34m.

The rising reserves boosted the rupee which had risen by seven per cent against the dollar in a month’s time.