Monday, August 3, 2009

Pakistan's forex reserves fall to $11.77 bln

KARACHI, July 30 (Reuters) - Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves fell by $80 million in the week that ended July 25 to $11.77 billion, the third straight weekly fall, the central bank said on Thursday.

The State Bank of Pakistan's reserves eased to $8.35 billion from $8.43 billion a week earlier, while reserves held by commercial banks were flat from the previous week at $3.42 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.

Pakistan agreed in November to an International Monetary Fund emergency loan package of $7.6 billion to avert a balance of payments crisis and shore up reserves.

The fund recently reviewed the country's performance under the deal, and its board is set to meet early next month to decide on a third loan tranche of roughly $850 million.

The country has also requested about $4 billion in additional financing from the IMF as 'insurance' against the economic crisis.

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