Rupee rebounds amid high oil prices

Rupee rebounds amid high oil prices

KARACHI: The Pak Rupee (PKR) edged up 21 paisas against the dollar, the first gain during the current week, on Thursday amid rise in international oil prices and fall in foreign exchange reserves.

The rupee ended Rs176.77 to the dollar from previous day’s gain in Rs176.98 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

READ MORE: Rupee ends firmer amid rising international oil prices

The local unit cumulatively declined by 74 paisas during first three trading sessions of the current week from closing of Rs176.24 on January 21, 2022. The rupee ended flat on January 27 and now made recovery today.

Currency experts attributed the rupee depreciation to fall in foreign exchange reserves of the country and surge in dollar demand for import payments.

READ MORE: Rupee sinks for third straight day against dollar

Pakistan’s liquid foreign exchange reserves plunged by $866 million to $22.482 billion by week ended January 21, 2022, the central bank said on Thursday.

The country’s foreign exchange reserves were at $23.35 billion by week ended January 14, 2022.

The official reserves of the central bank sharply declined by $846 million to $16.19 billion by week ended January 21, 2022 as compared with $17.036 billion a week ago. The SBP attributed the decline to external and other repayments.

READ MORE: Rupee falls 23 paisas on dollar demand surge

On the other hand the oil prices also at record high levels. The benchmark Brent touched over $91 per barrel a day earlier.

The oil bill of Pakistan jumped by 113.4 per cent during first half of the current fiscal year. The bill surged to $10.18 billion during July – December 2021/2022 as compared with $4.77 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

Currency experts said that the passage of State Bank bill from the Senate would pave way for the release of over a one billion dollar tranche by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the next week.

READ MORE: Rupee plummets on high oil prices