ISLAMABAD, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said that its foreign exchange reserves had increased by 243 million U.S. dollars.

       During the week ending on Jan. 19, the total foreign exchange reserves of the bank moved to around 8.3 billion dollars, the SBP said in a statement on Thursday night.

       The increase occurred as "the SBP received the International Monetary Fund tranche under the stand-by agreement and executed the government's external debt repayments," the statement said, adding that "after accounting for all flows, the SBP's reserves recorded a net increase of 243 million U.S. dollars."

       Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks came at around 5.1 billion dollars, the central bank said.

       Total liquid foreign reserves held by the South Asian country stood at about 13.4 billion dollars, according to the SBP.