Updated at: 1733 PST, Thursday, October 07, 2010
KARACHI: Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves rose to a record $16.99 billion in the week ending Oct. 1, up from $16.79 billion the previous week, the central bank said on Thursday.
Reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) rose to a record $13.15 billion from $12.99 billion, while those held by commercial banks jumped to $3.84 billion from $3.80 billion, said Syed Wasimuddin, chief spokesman of the SBP.
"The rise is due to the continuously rising inflow of remittances, as well as the inflow of a grant of $16.6 million from the United Kingdom to be spent on education in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province," said Wasimuddin.
Pakistan's reserves were boosted last month after the IMF sent Pakistan $450 million and said that the money would go toward Pakistan's budget to help with additional spending for flood relief and immediate foreign exchange needs.
This was separate from the $11 billion IMF bailout programme, agreed to in 2008.
In May, Pakistan received $1.13 billion, the fifth tranche of the programme. The status of the release of the sixth tranche is unclear, however. It has been delayed until at least the release of the damages and assessment report, due in mid October. |
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