Forex reserves slip to $12.85 billion

KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves slipped to $12.855 billion in the week that ended on August 22 compared with 12.963 billion the week before, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.According to the breakup, the SBP’s reserves fell to $9.359 billion from $9.468 billion a week earlier, while reserves held by commercial banks were unchanged at $3.49 billion, the State Bank of Pakistan said.Reserves jumped by $1.11 billion to $12.96 billion in the week that ended on August 15 when a new tranche of an International Monetary Fund loan arrived. Pakistan agreed in November to an IMF emergency loan package of $7.6 billion to avert a balance of payments crisis and shore up reserves. staff report