Rupee is losing against the dollar since months, despite the revival of International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme. On Tuesday, Pakistani Rupee nosedived against the US dollar in the interbank market in the range of 238-239.
During intra-day trade, the rupee was quoted at 237.99, a decline of Re0.08 or 0.03% against the US dollar.
On Monday, the Pakistani Rupee fell for the 12th consecutive session to end at 237.91 in the interbank market, as expectation of the increase in import bill and the greenback’s worldwide strength weighed on the currency.
Despite receiving a $1.2 billion tranche from the IMF at the beginning of September, the rupee has continued to fall.
According to the AKD Securities report, “when the country received IMF’s tranche of US$1.2bn at the start of this month, the second since the start of the year, it was hoped that currency would find solid ground against the US$. However, against expectations, the currency has continued to depreciate, sliding to PkR237.5/US$ at the time of writing.”
“Despite the rollover of maturing debt announced by Saudi Arabia, the PKR depreciated by 0.45 percent DoD against the US$ amid shortage of greenback in the country,” AKD Securities tweeted on Monday.
Read more: Where are the dollars going?
Dollar interbank rate 237.91 as of 19th September 2022#Dollar #pakistan #RupeeVsDollar #rupee pic.twitter.com/iztHnPozFg
— AKD Securities (@akdsecurities) September 19, 2022
Moreover, due to massive devastations caused by the catastrophic floods, the country’s borrowing requirements are projected to rise. Economic losses are estimated to be in the range of $15 to $20 billion until now. Damage to the crops, resulting in severe food shortage and soaring market prices has forced the country to import food items. As a result, country’s import bill would go up.
Read more: Flash floods and food shortages: issuing import permits for onions and tomatoes
The brokerage house emphasized the importance of increasing inflows through remittances and Roshan Digital Accounts (RDA).
On Tuesday, the dollar remained steady against key rivals globally, remaining below a two-decade high, as investors braced for the Federal Reserve to resume its aggressive interest-rate-hiking drive to cool massive inflation.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six counterparts, was changed a little at 109.53, stable for the moment after pulling back from as high as 110.79 earlier this month, a level not witnessed since June 2002.
A crucial indicator of currency parity, oil prices, changed a bit on Tuesday after climbing in the previous session, on fears that interest rate hikes in the United States to combat inflation could slow economic development and fuel demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.