KARACHI, Feb 8: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have touched an all-time high level mainly on account of robust inflows and lesser outflows.

The latest data provided by the State Bank showed that the reserves touched record high of $13.254 billion on Feb 3, 2007. Of the total reserves $10.845 billion were held by the SBP and $2.408 billion by other banks. Earlier, in June 2006 the reserves reached $13.137 billion.

The reserves rose mainly because of high inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) and remittances sent by the overseas Pakistanis.

The FDI has been flowing in different sectors including the oil exploration, telecommunications, financial institutions, real estate and housing projects.

Remittances had risen by over 20 per cent and could touch the $5.5bn-mark by the end of the current fiscal year.

Officials said that the outflows of forex fell down as the oil prices had declined substantially during the current financial year.

Analysts said that the heavy FDI inflows would help the government to meet the rising trade deficit as the exports could not pick up as per the target set for the current fiscal year.