Forex reserves rise to $15.709 billion

KARACHI: The total foreign exchange reserves of the country increased $743 million to $15.709 billion by the week ended March 15, 2019 from $14.966 billion a week ago, the central bank said on Thursday.

During the week, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) received inflows of $1 billion from the UAE as placement of funds. After taking into account outflows relating to external debt and other official payments, the SBP’s forex reserves increased $716 million, the central bank said.

The official forex reserves of the central bank increased to $8.838 billion by the week ended March 15 from the level of $8.122 billion a week ago.

Similarly, the foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks increased $27 million to $6.87 billion from the previous week’s level of $6.843 billion.