KARACHI, Sept 25: Pakistan’s foreign reserves fell $90 million to $8.82 billion in the week that ended on Sept 20, from $8.91 the previous week, the central bank said on Thursday.

The State Bank of Pakistan said its reserves fell to $5.41 billion from $5.52 billion previously, while those held by commercial banks rose marginally to $3.41 billion from $3.39 billion.

Pakistan’s foreign reserves hit a record high of $16.5 billion in October last year but have dwindled because of a soaring import bill and foreign investors withdrawing funds because of political uncertainty.

Some inflows are expected in coming weeks, including $1 billion from the World Bank and $500 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

An expected Saudi oil facility would also help Pakistan save foreign exchange. But all of these have still to materialise.

The current account deficit widened sharply to $2.572 billion in July and August, the first two months of the 2008-09 fiscal year, which is equivalent to about 1.6 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), compared with a full-year target of 6.0 per cent of the GDP.—Reuters