Rupee sinks to PKR 219.11 to dollar in early interbank trading

KARACHI: The Pakistan Rupee (PKR) fell to PKR 219.11 against the dollar in early trading at interbank foreign exchange market on Monday.

The exchange rate witnessed a decline of 68 paisas in rupee value as the foreign currency is being traded at PKR 219.11 from last Friday’s closing of PKR 218.43 in the interbank foreign currency market.

Currency experts said that the local currency was under immense pressure due to higher import payment demand and repayment against foreign debt.

The dollar rebounded on October 12, 2022 after making a losing streak for straight 13 sessions to the rupee.

The exchange rate reached to near record low of PKR 239.71 on September 22, 2022 to the dollar but ended at PKR 217.79 on October 10, 2022. Dar recently claimed that the actual value of the dollar is below PKR 200 and he vowed to bring it down.

The rupee hit all-time low of PKR 239.94 against the dollar on July 28, 2022.

Currency experts said that the rising dollar demand was due to falling foreign exchange reserves and increasing import payments.

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves continued to decline and depleted by $342 million to $13.247 billion by week ended October 07, 2022. The foreign exchange reserves of the country were at $13.589 billion a week ago i.e. September 30, 2022.

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 $13.981 billion.

They said that the rupee had made gain during the past couple of weeks due to various measures taken by the central bank to curb the dollar hoarding.