Currency: Rupee weaker against dollar

KARACHI: The rupee ended weaker at 90.73/80 to the dollar compared to its close of 90.68/75 on Wednesday due to increased import payments, especially for oil. Dealers expect some pressure on the rupee because of rising global oil prices. The rupee had been supported this week by remittances from overseas Pakistanis. There is also concern on the trade deficit, which widened by 41% to $14.6 billion in the first eight months of the 2011/12 fiscal year, compared with $10.34 billion in the same period the previous year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics reported. The central bank kept the key policy rate flat at 12% for the next two months in its monetary policy announcement in February. In the money market, overnight rates fell to 9.10%, compared with the previous day’s close of 11.90%, despite net scheduled outflows of 25 billion rupees. Dealers said there were scheduled outflows of 350 billion rupees on Friday.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2012.