Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) slightly decreased by $0.1 million on a weekly basis, clocking in at $8.04 billion as of April 5, data released on Monday showed.

Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $13.44 billion. Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks stood at $5.40 billion.

“During the week ended on 05-Apr-2024, SBP’s reserves decreased by US$ 0.1 million to US$ 8,040.3 million,” SBP said in its statement.

Last week, Pakistan’s central bank reserves had increased by $19 million.

It may be noted that the repayment of $1 billion Pakistan’s International Bond on April 12, 2024 did not reflect in this week’s data.

In a key development, Pakistan’s economic team led by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb left for Washington on Sunday to hold talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a new bailout programme.

Talks between Pakistan and the IMF are scheduled for this week in Washington, wherein the government team will request the Fund for approval of a new loan programme. The main ministerial meetings and events will be held from April 17-19.