Currency: Rupee stable against dollar

KARACHI: Pakistani rupee ended almost flat at 90.85/89 to the dollar, compared to Wednesday’s close of 90.80/85. The currency has been supported by remittances, which rose 20.23% to $10.877 billion in the first 10 months of the 2011/12 fiscal year, compared with $9.046 billion in the same period last year. In April, remittances totaled $1.141 billion. State Bank of Pakistan’s monetary policy statement released last month claimed that the external sector was likely to remain under pressure because of both external debt payments and lack of foreign aid. Overnight rates in the money market ended at 11.90%, up from Wednesday’s close of 9.10% because of decreased liquidity in the market.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2012.