Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank rose by $18 million in the week ending on March 10, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

A handout issued by the SBP said its reserves stood at $4.319 billion while net foreign reserves held by commercial banks were $5.527bn.

The central bank said total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $9.846bn.

Arif Habib Limited calculated that the reserves were sufficient to cover nearly a month of imports.

Cash-strapped Pakistan is in a race against time to implement measures to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The agreement with the IMF on the completion of the ninth review of a $7bn loan programme — which has been delayed since late last year over a policy framework — would not only lead to a disbursement of $1.2bn but also unlock inflows from friendly countries.

The prerequisites by the lender are aimed at ensuring Pakistan shrinks its fiscal deficit ahead of its annual budget around June.

Pakistan has already taken most of the other prior actions, which included hikes in fuel and energy tariffs, the withdrawal of subsidies in export and power sectors, and generating more revenues through new taxation in a supplementary budget.

As a last step, the international lender has required Pakistan to guarantee that its balance of payments deficit is fully financed for the remaining period of an IMF programme.

However, diplomatic sources told Dawn earlier this week that the political situation in Pakistan had become a factor in delaying a deal with the IMF.

Sources said that global lenders, particularly the IMF, were seeking assurances from Pakistan that the future political setup in the country would respect any deal they signed with Islamabad.