Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves continue to plunge

Karachi: The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) continued to fall on a weekly basis.

On July 7, the foreign currency reserves held by the central bank were recorded at $9,717.5 million, down $99 million compared with $9,816.3 on June 30, data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday showed.

According to the central bank, the decrease came due to external debt and other payments. Overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $15,610.5 million.

Net reserves held by banks amounted to $5,893 million.

The forex reserves are expected to cross $10 billion after Pakistan reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to receive $1.17 billion from the IFI.