KARACHI: The country’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $70 million to $11.84 billion in the week that ended on June 27, compared with $11.77 billion the previous week, a spokesman of State Bank of Pakistan said on Thursday.

The central bank’s reserves edged up to $8.55 billion from $8.45 billion a week earlier. Reserves held by commercial banks fell to $3.29 billion from the previous week’s $3.32 billion, the spokesman said.

Foreign reserves hit a record high of $16.5 billion in October 2007 but fell steadily to $6.6 billion by November last year, largely because of a soaring import bill.

Pakistan agreed in November to an International Monetary Fund emergency loan package of $7.6 billion to avert a balance of payments crisis and shore up reserves.—Reuters