Dollar jumps up to Rs238 in midday interbank

Dollar jumps up to Rs238 in midday interbank

KARACHI: The US dollar jumped to Rs238 against Pakistan Rupee (PKR) in midday interbank trading on Thursday.

The exchange rate witnessed a decline of Rs1.98 in rupee value to trade at Rs238 from last day’s closing of Rs236.02 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

Currency experts said that the external payment pressure escalated the dollar demand.

READ MORE: Dollar touches new peak at Rs236.02 at interbank closing

They said that falling foreign exchange reserves and political instability also put pressure on exchange rate.

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.

READ MORE: Rupee crashes Rs232.93 to dollar at interbank closing

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.

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.

READ MORE: Dollar hits new high Rs229.86 on political crisis

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.