ISLAMABAD: After appreciating for the last two days, the Pakistani Rupee continued its marginal upward trajectory for the third connective session as on Wednesday the local unit gained 01 paisa further against the American dollar in the interbank trading.
At close the local currency settled at Rs 278.10 against the last day’s stand of Rs 278.11.
Meanwhile, according to the Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP), the buying and selling price of the greenback in the open market, settled at Rs277.00 and Rs 279.70 respectively.
Like the greenback, the rates for the Euro also went down by 49 paisa to settle at Rs298.62 against the last-day closing of Rs 299.11, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
The Japanese Yen was down by 01 paisa to close at Rs.1.79 while the British Pound registered a decline of Rs1.77 to close at Rs346.81 against the last day closing of Rs348.58.
Meanwhile, the price of the Emirates Dirham and Saudi Riyal remained constant at Rs 75.71 and Rs.74.15 respectively.
Pakistani Rupee Against US Dollar
Recently the local currency witnessed both appreciation and depreciation, against the American dollar with recent continuous improvement except in the last few days. From September, till the middle of October 2023, the local unit registered appreciation for a record 28 consecutive sessions against the US dollar, followed by a continuous fall for 17th consecutive sessions from October till the middle of November 2023.
However at the end of December 2023, and then in January 2024, the local unit mostly registered appreciation against the US dollar amid the inflow from the IMF followed by a $2b rollover from the UAE on January 20, 2024. On 29th February, China also rolled over $2b to Pakistan which was due in March 2024. As a result, the Pakistani rupee went up by over Rs 7 in the interbank during the last eight to ten weeks.
In another recent development, Pakistan received $1.1 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the final tranche of the $3 billion Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), on April 30. Pakistan would be now looking to get a larger and longer Extended Fund Facility (EFF) of the IMF programme to further expedite its economic stature. However, the public must be ready for further increases in prices in the country as the new IMF agreement is likely to be followed by further taxation.
