Rupee strengthens against dollar to PKR 281.71 as forex reserves improve

Rupee strengthens against dollar to PKR 281.71 as forex reserves improve

KARACHI: Pakistani Rupee (PKR) strengthened by PKR 1.11 against the dollar on Friday owing to improvement in foreign exchange reserves of the country.

The exchange rate recorded an increase of PKR 1.11 in rupee value to end at PKR 281.71 as compared previous day’s closing of PKR 282.82 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

READ MORE: Rupee inches up by 43 paisas in interbank forex market

Currency experts said that the improvement in foreign exchange reserves had supported the rupee value.

Pakistan’s weekly foreign exchange reserves moved by $93 million by week ended March 10, 2023. The foreign exchange reserves of the country increased to $9.847 billion by week ended March 10, 2023 when compared with $9.754 billion a week ago i.e. March 03, 2023, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said.

The country’s foreign exchange reserves hit an all-time high of $27.228 billion on August 27, 2021. Since then the foreign exchange reserves have declined by $17.381 billion.

READ MORE: PKR loses 56 paisas against dollar in interbank forex market

On the other hand, the official reserves of the SBP increased $18 million to $4.319 billion by week ended March 10, 2023 when compared with $4.301 billion a week ago.

Foreign exchange reserves of the SBP have been increased to a level for providing more than one month import cover.

After many week the official reserves of the central crossed one month import cover. The import bill of the country during the month of February 2023 was recorded at $4 billion.

READ MORE: Rupee registers another day of erosion; dollar ends at PKR 282.29

Ideally a central bank should have a level of foreign exchange reserves that is equal to three-month of import payment by a country.

The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank witnessed a record high at $20.146 billion by the week ended August 27, 2021. Since then the official reserves of the SBP dropped by $15.827 billion.

READ MORE: Rupee witnesses big fall against dollar to end PKR 282.30 in interbank

The local currency has registered a continuous fall during past few days and heading towards the all-time low. The rupee recorded historic low of PKR 285.09 to the dollar on March 02, 2023.