ISLAMABAD: After a slight depreciation of 25 paisa during the last two days, the Pakistani Rupee continued the downfall on the third consecutive day as on Wednesday the local unit depreciated further by 10 paisa against the American in the interbank trading to settle at Rs278.39 against the previous day’s value closing of Rs278.29.
Meanwhile, according to the Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP), the buying and selling price of the greenback in the open market also registered a slight change and settled at Rs277.3 and Rs280.15 respectively.
Like the Greenback, the rates for the Euro against the local currency also went up 32 paisa to settle at Rs295.85 as compared to the last-day closing of Rs295.53, as per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
The Japanese Yen, however, remained constant at Rs1.80, whereas the British Pound registered a decline of 76 paisa to close at Rs346.77 compared to Rs346.01 on Tuesday.
The price of the Emirates Dirham and the Saudi Riyal went up by 03 paisa each to settle at Rs75.80 and Rs74.21 respectively.
Pakistani Rupee Against US Dollar
The Pakistani Rupee swung both ways against the American dollar during the last couple of months with recent continuous appreciation except for the last three days. From September, till the middle of October 2023, the Pakistani unit observed improvement for a record 28 consecutive sessions against the greenback, 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 currency mostly enjoyed appreciation against the US dollar, thanks to the inflow from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) in form of Rs700m followed by a $2b roll over from the UAE on January 20. In addition, on 29th February, China also rolled over $2b to Pakistan which was due in March 2024. As a result, the Pakistani currency appreciated by over Rs 7 in the interbank during the last five to six weeks.
In another major development on 20th March (Wednesday) Pakistan and the IMF reached a staff-level agreement over the final review of the $3 billion Standby-By Agreement, adding some relief for boosting the local currency and the country’s economy. However, the nation must be ready for further hikes in prices and inflation in the country as the new IMF agreement is likely to be conditioned with further taxation.
