The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank decreased by $125 million on a weekly basis, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

On August 18, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $7.931 billion, down $125 million compared to $8.055 billion on August 11. In a statement, SBP said that the decline in reserves was on account of debt repayments.

Overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $ 13.248 billion, down $131 million over the previous week. The net reserves held by banks stood at $5.318 billion, registering a decline of $6 million during the week.

The decline on a weekly basis is the fourth in the last five weeks. Last week, the central bank’s reserves went up slightly after three consecutive declines. The reserves held by the central bank have fallen by nearly $800 million since July 14 when reserves stood at $8.727 billion.

Source: Pro Pakistani