KARACHI: Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of SBP (SBP) fell by over $600 million during the week ending on June 22, said SBP on Thursday.

The steep fall brought down the central bank’s reserves to $9.663 billion which is even lower than the amount needed for two months of imports. The SBP reported that $602m were utilised for debt servicing and other official payments during this week.

The country’s overall reserves amounted to $16.244bn.

However, the foreign exchange holdings of the commercial banks have further increased to $6.581bn; a rise of $48m within a week.

The commercial holdings have been on the rise since June 2017 when they jumped to $5.258bn from $4.775bn in the previous week.

In the past one year, private holdings have increased by $1.325bn.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2018