KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves fell $1.2 billion in just two weeks, setting alarm bells ringing for the government as it may disturb the exchange rate, particularly in the open market.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported on Thursday that its reserves decreased $376 million to $17.22bn during the week ending on Feb 3.

The country witnessed a sharp fall of $790m in reserves in the previous week. Overall reserves of the country fell from $22.43bn to $22.03bn during the week.

Total reserves are at the lowest level since June. Pakistan could not receive about $1.1bn from the United States in the Coalition Support Fund. It borrowed $1.1bn in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2017