ISLAMABAD: After the recent corrective measures taken by the government, the Pakistani Rupee upward trend continued for the last three days and witnessed an improvement of over Rs 25 in the open market and over Rs 12 in the interbank.
Continuing with the same flow, the local currency on Thursday recorded a gain of Rs2.03 against the US dollar in the interbank trading and closed at Rs304.94 as compared to the last day closing of 306.98, as reported by the State Bank of Pakistan.
Interbank closing #ExchangeRate for todayhttps://t.co/3lmMOguoYQ#SBPExchangeRate pic.twitter.com/bgjK6DDbGu
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) September 7, 2023
Like the interbank, the situation at the open market is even more optimistic where the buying and selling rates of the greenback in the open market came down to Rs305 and Rs308 from Rs313 and Rs316 respectively as reported by the Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP).
Rupee Against Other Currencies
Like the greenback, the price of the Euro also went down and recorded a decrease by Rs 2.81 to settle at Rs326.67 against Rs329.48 last day.
The Japanese Yen recorded a depreciation by 02 paisa to close at Rs2.06, whereas the British Pound went down by Rs5.25 paisa to settle at Rs380.20 against its last day value of Rs385.45.
The exchange rates of the Saudi Riyal and the Emirates Dirham went down by 53 and 55 paisa to close at Rs81.30 and Rs83.02, respectively.
Appreciation of Pak Rupee
The rapid improvement in the local currency against the dollar is attributed to the recent steps by the government, including crackdown against moneylenders, hoarders, border smuggling, and illegal money exchange companies who are reportedly involved in the artificial shortage of dollars.
The government is also flexing mussels to prepare a complete list of all those being involved in the illegal financial activities and the illegal money cartel. The government has also decided to expedite the surveillance systems across the country, including sea routes and on airports to counter any Illegal movement of goods and currency.
Expert Views
President Forex Association of Pakistan Malik Bostan expressed his satisfaction over the recent move and said that these measures would bring the value of the rupee against the dollar below the threshold of Rs300 in the open market in the coming few days. He added that after the decline in the open market, the interbank will follow at the same pace.
Economic experts and Chartered Accountant Saifullah Khan Wazir also ratified Malik Bostan’s view; however, added that further improvement in the local currency in the interbank would require further inflow of the dollar into the country.
He added that any inflow from the IMF or in case of any bilateral, multilateral pledge from the international community, including Saudi Arabia and UAE would be required to counter the ongoing economic unrest in a better way.
