ISLAMABAD: After continuous appreciation of the Pakistani Rupee for the last 9 to 10 days, the local unit on Wednesday witnessed a slight depreciation of 08 paisa against the American dollar in the interbank trading to settle at Rs277.91 against the previous day’s closing of Rs277.83.
Meanwhile, according to the Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP), the buying and selling price of the greenback in the open market also observed a slight change and stood at Rs278 and Rs281.75 respectively.
Like the greenback, the price of the Euro also went up by 92 paisa against the local unit to close at Rs299.34 as compared to Rs298.42, on the last day, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
However, like the last two days, the Japanese Yen remained constant at Rs1.83 against the local currency, whereas the British Pound witnessed an increase of 48 paisa to settle at Rs349.24 compared to the closing of Rs348.76 on Tuesday.
The price of the Emirates Dirham and the Saudi Riyal went up by 02 paisa each to settle at Rs 75.67 and Rs 74.09 respectively.
Pakistani Rupee Against American Dollar
The local currency moved both ways against the US Dollar during the last couple of months with recent continued improvement. From September, till the middle of October 2023, the Pakistani Rupee observed appreciation for a record 28 consecutive sessions against the greenback, followed by a continued 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 Pakistani Rupee mostly enjoyed appreciation against the American dollar, thanks to the inflow from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) in the 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 Rupee improved 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 price hikes and inflation in the country as the new IMF agreement is likely to be conditioned with further taxation.
