KARACHI: The Pakistan Rupee (PKR) witnessed major fall of 84 paisas against the dollar on Thursday to continue its spree of making new historic lows.
The rupee ended Rs183.48 to the dollar from the last day’s closing of Rs182.64 in the interbank foreign exchange market.
READ MORE: Rupee falls to new historic low to dollar at 182.64
The rupee has fallen 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.
Currency experts said that the dollar demand remained high during the day due to falling foreign exchange reserves, volatiles commodity prices in international markets and political uncertainty.
READ MORE: Rupee deteriorates record low to dollar at 182.34
Large external payments against foreign debts depressed the rupee value. Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves fell by $2.28 billion to $21.44 billion by March 18, 2022 as compared with $23.72 billion as of February 4, 2022.
READ MORE: Dollar jumps to new record high at PKR 182.19
The foreign exchange reserves of the country hit record high at $27.23 billion on August 27, 2021.
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 continues historic journey; tops at PKR 181.78
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.
