Ahmed Mukhtar Naqshbandi
ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: The dealers have kept their fingers crossed as the Pakistani rupee exhibited some spine at the start of the trading on Monday morning.
The rupee opened positively against the United States (US) dollar in the interbank market. According to the information made available by forex traders, the Pakistani rupee has gained 58 paise and is exchanging hands at Rs276.
The latest reprieve for Pakistani currency came after it slipped to another all-time low against the US dollar the previous Friday, closing over the 276 mark in the inter-bank market. As per the State Bank of Pakistan, the currency settled at 276.58, a decline of Rs 5.22 or 1.89%.
The local currency has depreciated by 25.93 percent during the ongoing fiscal year against the greenback.
Weakest level for the rupee
Friday’s closing was the weakest level for the rupee as the talks between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) continued in Islamabad.
Experts are of the view that the plunge in the rupee’s value came on account of the negative sentiment pertaining to talks with the IMF. An economist said that PM Shehbaz said that the IMF giving Pakistan a tough time, which has dented market sentiment. Our forex reserves continue to deplete quickly, which is taking its toll.
Foreign exchange reserves held by a central bank of Pakistan had dropped by a massive 592 million dollars to a mere 3.09 billion dollars. This is the low level of State Bank reserves since February 2014.
