KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves rose to $17.397 billion in the week ended March 29 from $15.473 billion in the previous week, the central bank said on Thursday.

The reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased to $10.492 billion, compared with $8.560 billion in the preceding week.

During the week ending March 29, 2019, the SBP received inflow of RMB 15 billion equal to $2.2 billion, as proceeds of the loan obtained by the government of Pakistan from China, the SBP said in a statement.

“After taking into account outflows relating to external debt and other official payments, SBP reserves increased by $1,931 million during the week.”

The foreign currency reserves of commercial banks stood at $6.905 billion from $6.913 billion in the previous week.