Rupee plunges 72 paisas to dollar on Russia War

Rupee plunges 72 paisas to dollar on Russia War

KARACHI: The Pak Rupee (PKR) plunged by 72 paisas against the dollar on Friday as war between Russia and Ukraine intensified.

The rupee ended Rs177.11 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs176.39 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

READ MORE: PKR slides 23 paisas to dollar on Russia-Ukraine war

Currency experts said that the rupee remained under pressure during the day due to rising oil prices in international markets after war intensified between Russia and Ukraine. Further, the last trading day and advance dollar buying also deteriorated the rupee value.

The experts said that Pakistan is dependent upon the import of petroleum products to meet domestic demand.

READ MORE: PKR gains seven paisas to dollar in interbank

The oil bill of the country surged by 107 per cent to $11.7 billion during the first seven months (July – January) of the current fiscal year as compared with $5.64 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.

The experts said that scheduled repayments of the government for foreign debt had also pressured the rupee.

READ MORE: Rupee plummets 48 paisas to dollar

The liquid foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan declined by $264 million to $23.226 billion by week ended February 18, 2022, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

The foreign exchange reserves of the country were $23.49 billion by week ended February 11, 2022.

The official reserves of the State Bank fell by $289 million to $16.807 billion by week ended February 18, 2022 as compared with $17.096 billion a week ago.

READ MORE: Dollar falls 11 paisas to PKR