Pakistani forex reserves rise to $14.31 bln

KARACHI, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves rose to $14.31 billion in the week ended on Aug. 29 compared with $12.85 billion previously, the central bank said on Thursday.
(For previous report, click on [ID:nSIN452915])
"The International Monetary Fund has increased its SDR allocation for all member countries and for Pakistan it equals to $1.2 billion," said Syed Wasimuddin, chief spokesman for the central bank.
The State Bank of Pakistan's reserves rose to $10.79 billion from $9.36 billion a week earlier, while reserves held by commercial banks also rose to $3.52 billion from $3.49 billion a week earlier, the State Bank of Pakistan said.
Reserves jumped by $1.11 billion to $12.96 billion in the week that ended on Aug. 15 when a new tranche of an IMF 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.
The fund increased the loan to $11.3 billion in July, and then released the third tranche of $1.2 billion.
Foreign reserves hit a record high of $16.5 billion in October 2007 but fell steadily to $6.6 billion by November of last year, largely because of a soaring import bill.
On Aug. 1, the central bank stopped using foreign exchange to pay for diesel and other refined petroleum products, which will force importers to obtain the dollars they need in the market.
The central bank will continue to provide foreign exchange for crude oil imports until Feb. 1 next year. (Reporting by Sahar Ahmed; Editing by David Fox) (For more Reuters coverage of Pakistan, see: here)