Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves fall to $11.85 billion

KARACHI (July 24 2009): Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves fell by $394 million in the week that ended July 18 to $11.85 billion, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday. SBP's reserves eased to $8.43 billion from $8.86 billion a week earlier, while reserves held by commercial banks rose to $3.42 billion from the previous week's $3.38 billion, the central bank said in a statement. Foreign reserves hit a record high of $16.5 billion in October 2007 but fell steadily to $6.6 billion by November of last year, largely because of a soaring import bill.