Pakistan’s central bank foreign reserves decreased by $102 million to $4.09 billion due to external debt payments during the week ended May 26, the central bank said in a statement.

The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $9.513 billion as of May 26.

The development came as Pakistan’s annual inflation rose to 37.97% year on year in May, the statistics bureau said on Thursday, becoming the highest rate in South Asia.

The CPI stood at 36.5% in April, which the bureau said was the highest on their records.

The latest 38% rise tops that of Sri Lanka, which posted annual inflation of 25.2% in May.

The month-on-month rise in May was 1.58%, the bureau said in a news release, adding vegetables, pulses and chicken prices posted the biggest increases.

Inflation has been on an upward trend since early this year after the government took painful measures as part of fiscal adjustments demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to unlock stalled funding, which still has not been disbursed.

Many analysts believe that the country needs another package of loans from the IMF to avoid default in the next fiscal year as well.