Business

Rupee posts fresh slump

Depreciates by Rs1.75 to stand at Rs191.77 against dollar

Our Correspondent May 13, 2022

PHOTO: AFP/File

KARACHI:

Pakistani currency maintained its downturn on the fourth consecutive day, as it dropped by a notable 0.91% (or Rs1.75) to a new all-time low at Rs191.77 against the US dollar in the interbank market on Thursday.

The rupee closed at Rs190.02 on the previous day (Wednesday), according to the central bank’s data.

Cumulatively, in the past four working days, the rupee has depreciated 2.75% (or Rs5.14) to Rs191.77.

Experts underlined that global and domestic political and economic uncertainties triggered the latest round of depreciation in the local currency.

Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP) Chairman Malik Bostan said in a statement that the political uncertainty took a toll on the rupee, as “the politics of dividing the country into new and old Pakistan badly impacted the macro-economy”.

He said that the trade deficit has reached a record high at $39.2 billion in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year 2021-22, while the country’s foreign exchange reserves have dropped to a 29-month low at $10.3 billion in the week ended on May 6, 2022.

Read Dollar touches all-time high of Rs190 as PSX sheds 500 more points

The widening of trade deficit and fall in reserves to a critical low level mounted pressure on the rupee against the greenback.

He urged the government to convince the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to resume the multi-billion dollar loan programme as soon as possible, as the lending institution would then release the next tranche of loan (worth $1 billion) to Islamabad.

This will be followed by friendly countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and China to announce fresh bailout packages for Pakistan.

The inflows would help stabilise the foreign exchange reserves, “which is a must to support rupee against the dollar,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2022.

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COMMENTS (1)

test | 2 years ago | Reply It s all about black market elites and panic buying. And the last thing is loyality. I know elites and criminal will never be loyal to our homeland. But i want educated people and those who are illiterate to understand that when ever dollar goes high sell your dollar assets to our open market exchange and buy rupees. I don t know because this is not rocket science but we need to teach loyality to our people. And for elites and criminals we need a strategy to control the amount of dollars one can withdraw and that should depend on the assets of open exchange which are little so variably dollar rupee ratio one can withdraw if it is very very extreme urgent other wise buying of dollars for individuals should be banned and import of luxury goods should be banned as soon as possible i repeat as soon as possible. But elites and criminal will keep harming our interests just for their vested interests because it is not their homeland after all.

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