Currency: Rupee firms against the dollar

KARACHI: The rupee ended firmer at 90.66/71 to the dollar, compared with Monday’s close of 90.70/75. The rupee has been supported recently by remittances from Pakistanis overseas, which rose 21.45% to $9.73 billion in the first nine months of the 2011/12 fiscal year, compared with $8.02 billion in the same period last year. In March, remittances totalled $1.14 billion. In Friday’s monetary policy statement the central bank said the external sector was likely to remain under pressure because of both external debt payments and a lack of foreign aid. Pakistan’s current account deficit widened to $2.95 billion in the first eight months of the 2011/12 fiscal year, compared with $194 million over the same period the previous year. Overnight rates in the money market were almost flat at 11.90%, compared with the previous day’s close of between 11.75% and 11.90% amid tight liquidity in the interbank market.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2012.