KARACHI: The Pak Rupee (PKR) on Monday fell to a new historic low of Rs174.43 to the dollar in interbank foreign exchange market.
The rupee lost 43 paisas against the dollar from last Friday’s closing of Rs174 in the interbank foreign exchange market.
Currency experts attributed the high dollar demand to opening of the market after two weekly holidays.
They further said that the massive external payments of imports and repayment by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had also put pressure on dollar demand.
The official foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank recorded a decline of $1.646 billion to $17.492 billion by the week ended October 15, 2021 as compared with $19.138 billion by week ended October 08, 2021.
The current account deficit ballooned to $3.4 billion during July – September 2021 as compared with a surplus of $865 million in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, according to the SBP.
The import bill shown a 66.11 per cent growth to $18.74 billion during the first quarter of the current fiscal year as compared with $11.28 billion in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal year.