KARACHI: The Pakistan Rupee (PKR) continued to slide against the US dollar for eighth straight day and reached to historic low at Rs192.53 on Friday.
The exchange rate witnessed a decline of 76 paisas in rupee value to reach Rs192.53, making fresh low against the US dollar in interbank foreign exchange market. The exchange rate was at Rs191.77 a day earlier at closing in interbank foreign exchange market.
Currency experts said that the falling foreign exchange reserves were main reason behind the free-fall in rupee value.
Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves fell by $177 million to $16.376 billion by week ended May 6, 2022. The foreign exchange reserves of the country were $16.553 billion by week ended April 30, 2022.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves hit record high at $27.228 billion by week ended August 27, 2021. Since then the foreign exchange reserves have depleted by $10.852 billion.
The official reserves of the State Bank witnessed a decline of $190 million to $10.309 billion by week ended May 6, 2022 as compared with $10.499 billion a week ago.
The SBP reserves reached to record high at $20.145 billion by August 27, 2021. The official reserves also fell by $9.836 billion after reaching record high. The official reserves of the SBP have been reduced to provide import payment cover for only 1.56 months.
The import bill of the country surged by 46.41 per cent to $65.49 billion during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year as compared with $44.73 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.
Pakistan is net importer of petroleum products to meet its domestic demand. The country’s oil bill was $14.81 billion during the first nine months (July – March) 2021/2022 as compared with $7.55 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, showing a massive growth of 96 per cent. The oil bill is around 25 per cent of the total import bill of country.
