KARACHI: The US Dollar continues record breaking journey against the Pakistan Rupee (PKR) and reached Rs184 for the first time in interbank foreign exchange market.
The dollar gained 52 paisas in midday trading from previous day’s closing of Rs183.48 in the interbank foreign exchange market.
READ MORE: Rupee continues falling spree; dollar at Rs183.48
The rupee last day closing fell non-stop against the dollar for the last 13 trading sessions. The local currency recorded Rs178.51 at interbank closing on March 11, 2022 and since then the dollar run was unabated.
The recent fall may be attributed to significant fall to foreign exchange reserves. Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have depleted by $2.88 billion in a week to $18.554 billion by week ended March 25, 2022, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday. The foreign exchange reserves of the country were $21.44 billion by week ended March 18, 2022.
READ MORE: Rupee falls to new historic low to dollar at 182.64
This is seventh consecutive week when the country’s foreign exchange reserves have witnessed consistent decline. The liquid foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan have declined by $5.167 billion since February 04, 2022, when the reserves were at $23.721 billion.
READ MORE: Rupee deteriorates record low to dollar at 182.34
The ballooning current account deficit escalated the dollar value. Pakistan’s current account deficit ballooned to $12 billion during first eight months (July – February) 2021/2022 against a surplus of $994 million in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.
READ MORE: Dollar jumps to new record high at PKR 182.19
Although the current account deficit narrowed to $545 million in February 2022 as compared with the deficit of $2.53 billion in January 2022, scheduled external repayments are still a threat to balance of payment.
