Pakistani rupee set to become top-performing currency globally: report

Pakistani currency is set to become the top performer globally this month as government crackdown on the illegal dollar trade helped reverse its fortunes, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

According to the report, the rupee surged almost 6% in September, a remarkable feat as most currencies including the Thai baht and South Korean won tumbled against the dollar on speculation US interest-rates will stay elevated for longer.

The currency rose 0.1% to Rs287.95 per dollar on Thursday, after sliding to a record-low of about Rs307 this month. “Many leakages were happening through illegal channels of hawala and hundi trade from the open market,” Khurram Schehzad, Chief Executive Officer of Alpha Beta Core Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a financial consultancy in Karachi told Bloomberg.

Read more: Rupee breaches Rs290 mark against US dollar

Hawala and hundi are an informal system of fund transfer common in South Asia.

“When the dollar rate reverses everybody, the hoarders, the exporters who are holding their export proceeds, start selling their dollars,” Schehzad said.

According to the report, the government intensified efforts by running after people involved in the illegal dollar trade that helped the currency.

The central bank also raised the capital requirements of smaller exchange companies and ordered large banks to open their own exchange companies to make the retail foreign-exchange market more transparent and easier to monitor.