ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday said that the actual value of the US dollar is less than Pakistani Rupee (PKR) 200 and he vowed to bring down the exchange rate.
Talking to a private news channel, the finance minister the local currency is undervalued.
READ MORE: PKR continues upward journey for seventh consecutive session against dollar
It is worth mentioning that the rupee is constantly gaining value against the dollar since the nomination and assumption the charge of finance ministry by Ishaq Dar.
The PKR on Monday continued its upward journey against the greenback and strengthened for seventh consecutive session.
The rupee made a gain of PKR 1.16 to end at PKR 227.29 against the dollar as compared with last Friday’s closing of PKR 228.45 in the interbank foreign exchange market.
The local unit gained PKR 12.42 against the dollar during the last five sessions. The exchange rate reached a record low of PKR 239.71 on September 22, 2022 to the dollar but ended at PKR 227.29 on October 01, 2022.
READ MORE: Rupee gains for sixth straight session against dollar; recovers PKR 11.26
It is worth mentioning that the local unit recorded the all-time low level of PKR 239.94 to the dollar on July 28, 2022. Although after the IMF deal the rupee appreciated against the dollar but following the disbursement of funds under Extended Fund Facility (EFF) the rupee again witnessed a steep decline to reach near to the record low at PKR 239.71 to the dollar on September 22, 2022.
READ MORE: PKR makes recovery against dollar for fourth straight session
Khurram Schehzad, a senior analyst, said the finance minister should not talk about setting currency parity, or at least not that openly, as its purely the prerogative of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and we have committed this in writing with the IMF that no one, at least from the ministry of finance will intervene in any way into the central bank matters.
“We should rather hold SBP accountable for achieving realistic currency parity (in line with fundamentals) as well as taming inflation (demand side), while managing the supply-side disruptions by a thorough strategy (farm to market management with necessary imports in time),” he added.
READ MORE: PKR strengthens sharply to dollar during last three sessions
