KARACHI: The US dollar on Monday recorded a new historic high at Rs229.86 against the Pakistan Rupee (PKR) due to rising political crisis.
The exchange rate recorded a decline of Rs1.49 in rupee value to end at Rs229.86 against the dollar from last Friday’s closing of Rs228.87 in the interbank foreign exchange market.
READ MORE: Dollar hits new high at Rs228.37 at interbank closing
The previous historic high of the dollar was Rs228.37 on July 22, 2022 in interbank foreign exchange market.
Currency experts said that the deepening political crisis had created panic in the currency market and rise in dollar demand.
The recent election for the chief minister in the Punjab Assembly was challenged by PTI and PML (Q) seeking relief from the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, other coalition partners are demanding the Supreme Court to form a full court to decide the case.
READ MORE: Rupee ends to new low at Rs226.81 against dollar in interbank
Currency experts said that the rupee under severe pressure due to high dollar demand for external payments.
The foreign exchange reserves of the country have further declined.
Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have declined by $368 million to $15.242 billion by week ended July 15, 2022. The foreign exchange reserves of the country were $15.61 billion a week ago i.e. July 07, 2022.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves hit all-time high of $27.228 billion on August 27, 2021. Since then the foreign exchange reserves have declined by $11.986 billion.
READ MORE: PKR plunges Rs227 to dollar at interbank midday trading
The official reserves of the State Bank also depleted by $388 billion to $9.329 billion by week ended July 15, 2022 as compared with $9.717 billion a week ago.
The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank witnessed a record high at $20.146 billion by week ended August 27, 2021. Since then the official reserves of the SBP declined by $10.817 billion.
The SBP on July 07, 2022 announced a hike of 125 basis points in policy rate to bring it to 15 per cent. The purpose of increasing the interest rate was to curb the demand and support the rupee value. However, the effort of the SBP failed to support the rupee value.
READ MORE: Rupee hits fresh low Rs224.92 to dollar at interbank closing
