KARACHI: Pakistani Rupee (PKR) made recovery of PKR 1.23 against the dollar on Friday amid massive fall in foreign exchange reserves.
The exchange rate recorded a gain of PKR 1.23 to end at PKR 269.28 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of PKR 270.51 in the interbank foreign exchange market.
READ MORE: Rupee regains sharply; dollar ends at PKR 270.51 in interbank
Currency experts said that the local currency was gaining despite the massive fall in foreign exchange reserves of the country.
Pakistan’s central bank official foreign exchange reserves have depleted below $3 billion, falling about nine years low. Previously, the official foreign exchange reserves were seen at $2.84 billion on February 07, 2014.
READ MORE: Rupee makes sharp recovery of PKR 2.95 against dollar on Feb 08 interbank closing
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said that its official reserves declined by $169 million to $2.917 billion by week ended February 03, 2022 compared with $3.086 billion a week ago or January 27, 2023.
The present level of the official reserves have fallen to provide import cover for only 18 days. The import bill of the country for the month of January 2023 was recorded at $4.856 billion, according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
READ MORE: Rupee ends near historic low; dollar jumps to PKR 276.28 in interbank
The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank witnessed a record high at $20.146 billion by week ended August 27, 2021. Since then the official reserves of the SBP dropped by $17.229 billion.
The foreign exchange reserves of the country recorded a decline of $202 million to $8.54 billion by week ended February 03, 2023 when compared with $8.742 billion by week ended January 27, 2023.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves hit all-time high of $27.228 billion on August 27, 2021. Since then the foreign exchange reserves have declined by $18.688 billion.
READ MORE: Rupee rebounds against dollar to end at PKR 275.30
The currency experts said that the rupee was also gaining on hopes that next tranche under Extended Fund Facility 9eff0 would be released after talks with International Monetary Fund (IMF).
However, the latest reports suggested that the country would further wait for the inflows as IMF had not finalized the ninth review of the program.
