Pakistan’s forex reserves fall to $15.55 bn

January 11th, 2008 Aimon · No Comments

KARACHI: Pakistan’ foreign exchange reserves fell by $19 million to $15.55 billion in the week that ended on Jan. 5, the central bank said on Friday.

Reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan fell to $13.27 billion from $13.50 billion a week earlier, while those held by commercial banks rose to $2.28 billion from $2.24 billion, it said.

Pakistan’s foreign reserves hit an all-time high of $16.39 billion in the week that ended on Nov. 10. But they fell because of outflows from the stock market after President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule on Nov. 3. Emergency rule was lifted on Dec. 15 but analysts said foreign investment is under pressure due to the tense political situation after the assassination of opposition leader Benezir Bhutto on Dec. 27.