KARACHI: The US dollar climbed up to a new record high of Rs177.43 at the closing of interbank foreign exchange market on Wednesday.
The dollar reached crossed the previous record high which was on December 7, 2021 at Rs176.79 in the interbank foreign exchange market. The Pak Rupee (PKR) lost 64 paisas against the dollar when compared with the last day closing.
Currency experts said that the dollar demand for import and corporate payments were remained high during the day.
They said that deposit of $3 billion by Saudi Development Fund (SDF) with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had failed to impact the rupee value. Further, the monetary tightening by the SBP also unable to support the rupee. The SBP in its last monetary policy on November 19, 2021 jacked up the key policy rate by 150 basis points to 8.75 per cent.
READ MORE: SBP increases policy rate by 150 basis points to 8.75%
The experts said that the local unit would only be supported by curtailing the imports.
The import bill of the country surged by 69.17 per cent to $33 billion during first five months (July – November) 2021/2022 as compared with $19.47 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.
