KARACHI: The rupee firmed to close at 87.42/52 to the dollar, compared with Monday’s close of 87.43/53 but dealers expect pressure on the rupee due to negative sentiment surrounding the country’s economic outlook. The rupee had some support from higher remittances from Pakistanis working overseas. According to data, remittances rose 40.45 per cent to $1.31 billion in August, compared with $933.06 million in the same period last year. The rupee hit a record low of 87.59 on Friday. Stalled payments from a bailout programme by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are also hammering the rupee. The government is due to start repaying the loan and interest from early next year. In the money market, overnight rates ended flat at 13.40 per cent amid tight liquidity in the interbank market.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2011.
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The rupee will fall. All attempts by SBP to artificially manipulate will not turn the tide. Our economy is in tatters. With a barely 2% growth and the growing fiscal deficit is a recipe for disaster. We need to curtail our consumption of luxury goods and focus on reviving our industry otherwise its gonna be even worse with mass unemployment, famine and riots.