Forex reserves soar to $12.88 billion

The total liquid foreign reserves of the country have increased to $12.88408 billion, State Bank of Pakistan said. The forex reserves held by State Bank on May 9, amounted to $8.01908 billion. The net forex reserves held by banks were $4.865 billion, said SBP weekly statement here Thursday. During the week, SBP's liquid forex reserves increased by $780 million to $8,020 million compared to $7,240 million in the previous week.
The increase in the central bank's reserves is primarily attributed to inflows of $1,050 million from multilateral and bilateral sources, of which $1,006 million were received from the World Bank. During the week ending May 9, 2014, on account of external debt servicing and other official payments, SBP made payments of $296 million from its reserves. This includes $149 million payment to the IMF under the SBA.