KARACHI, June 14: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves exceeded $6 billion figure on Friday for the first time in over 50 years following the release of $500 million World Bank loan.

Officials said that Pakistan’s total foreign exchange reserves amounted to $6.12 billion on Friday that include $4.15 billion being held by the State Bank of Pakistan and remaining $1.91 billion by the commercial banks.

The World Bank approved on Tuesday an interest-free loan of 395.5 million SDRs (500 million US dollars) for Pakistan which was released on Friday.

This is said to be the single largest loan given to Pakistan by the World Bank so far to support structural reform programme. This include good governance and human resource development. In last June, the World Bank gave a $350 million credit to Pakistan for the same purpose.