KARACHI: Pakistan’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves reached an all-time high of $23.4 billion on Sept 23, up 3 per cent from a week ago, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

According to a statement released by the central bank, SBP’s liquid foreign exchange reserves increased by $738 million to $18.4bn compared to $17.6bn in the preceding week.

The increase in reserves is mainly attributed to the inflow of $700m from China Development Bank.

Net foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks amounted to a little over $5bn on Sept 23, registering little change over the preceding week.

Reserves are expected to increase further, as the International Monetary Fund released the final tranche amounting to $102.1m under its $6.15bn loan programme earlier this week.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2016