Currency: Rupee strengthens against dollar

KARACHI: The rupee ended at 100.62/100.67 against the dollar, stronger than Thursday’s close of 100.70/100.75. Heavy debt repayments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been putting a dent in the central bank’s reserves, which have declined by nearly 20% in the current fiscal year, putting pressure on the rupee. The last IMF repayment of $260 million was made on June 28 2013. Overseas Pakistanis sent home a record $13.920 billion in the previous fiscal year (July 2012-June 2013), showing a growth of 5.56% or $733.64 million compared with $13.187 billion a year earlier. Monthly average of remittances for July-May this fiscal year came to $1.160 billion compared to $1.097 billion in the same period a year ago. Overnight rates on the money market rose to 9% from Thursday’s close of 8.90%.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2013.

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