Rupee ends down by 20 paisas on higher import payment demand

Rupee ends down by 20 paisas on higher import payment demand

KARACHI: The Pak Rupee fell by 20 paisas against the dollar on Friday owing to higher demand of the foreign currency for import and corporate payments.

The rupee ended at Rs159.46 to the dollar from the previous day’s closing of Rs159.26 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

Currency dealers said that the higher demand of the greenback was seen due to upcoming weekly holidays.

Experts believed that the rupee is likely to gain value against the dollar in coming days due to improved economic indicators and increase in the foreign exchange reserves.

The liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country have increased by $467 million to $20.552 billion by week ended November 20, 2020, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said a day earlier.

The foreign exchange reserves of the country were at $20.085 billion by week ended November 13, 2020.

The official reserves of the SBP increased by $484 million to $13.415 billion by week ended November 20, 2020 as against $12.931 billion a week ago.

The SBP attributed the increase to official government inflows.

The reserves held by commercial banks eased by $17 million to $7.137 billion by week ended November 20, 2020 as against $7.154 billion a week ago.