PKR recovers against dollar for ninth consecutive session

KARACHI: Pakistani Rupee (PKR) on Wednesday continued recovery against the dollar for 9^th straight session in the interbank foreign exchange market.

The rupee gained 1.70 to end at PKR 223.94 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of PKR 225.64 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

The local currency gained PKR 15.77 against the dollar during the last nine sessions. The exchange rate reached to near record low of PKR 239.71 on September 22, 2022 to the dollar but ended at PKR 223.94 on October 05, 2022.

Currency experts said that the rupee was appreciating against the dollar due to positive sentiments following assumption of Ishaq Dar as the finance minister. Dar recently claimed that the actual value of the dollar is below PKR 200 and he vowed to bring it down.

Meanwhile, the international oil prices also crashed which helped the rupee to make gains.

It is worth mentioning that the rupee on last Friday recovered against the dollar after witnessing a consecutive 15-session fall.

During this period the local currency depreciated by PKR 21.10 against the dollar from the interbank closing on September 01, 2022 at PKR 218.60.

The local currency witnessed the historic low at PKR 239.94 to the dollar on July 28, 2022.

Currency experts said that the rupee recovered because of the contraction in the current account deficit. Pakistan current account deficit recorded a contraction of 19 per cent during the first two months (July – August) of the current fiscal year 2022/2023.

Further, the experts said that the recent measures taken by the SBP also helped the rupee to gain value.

However, the rupee failed to get support from the latest announcement of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) about the funds of Saudi Arabia.

The rupee has witnessed a continuous depreciation against the greenback even after the inflows received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The local currency recorded some recovery against the greenback after the IMF fund was transferred to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). However, the removal of sanction on import of luxury and non-essential items the rupee again started free fall.

The currency experts said that although the IMF inflows would help the further inflows under bilateral and multilateral sources. However, the devastation of floods has changed the economic environment scenario.

The torrential rains and flash floods have inflicted a loss of over $10 billion to Pakistan’s economy. The devastation will prompt the country to make imports in the coming days, especially for agriculture products.

The rupee also fell due to continuous depletion in foreign exchange reserves of the country.