Daily Times

The Rupee edged higher against the US dollar in the inter-bank market for the third consecutive session on Friday and improved by 27 paisas (+0.1 percent) to close the eighth straight week on a positive note.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a tweet that the rupee opened at 281.67 against the dollar in the interbank market and closed at 281.40. Overall, the local unit improved by 46 paisas against the greenback this week while it gained Rs5.63 during the previous eight weeks.

Similarly, the rupee improved by Rs6.89 during the current fiscal year 2023-24 and 46 paisas in the current year. The rupee gained Rs3.31 against the US dollar in December, while it shed Rs3.69 against the US dollar in November after gaining Rs6.26 (+2.23 percent) against the greenback in the month of October. The currency surged more than 6 percent in September to become the top performer in the world.

On the other hand, the local unit gained 25 paisas against the greenback in the open market. The rupee was quoted at 279.75 for buying and 282.75 for selling as compared to 280 for buying and 283 for selling in the previous session, according to data provided by different exchange companies. The rupee gained Rs3.50 against the greenback in December while it surged by 50 paisas against the greenback last week.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP increased for the second consecutive week, hitting a five-and-a-half-month high at $8.22 billion, according to SBP. Foreign currency reserves have cumulatively risen by $1.32 billion in two weeks, which reflects a rebound from almost six-month low of $6.90 billion hit on December 15, 2023. The reserves grew on the back of official inflows coming from multilateral creditors. This helped the country to meet the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) end-December quarterly target of net foreign assets (NFA). The back-to-back multilateral funding at this point in time surprised financial markets globally as well as locally as experts had expected such receipts post-IMF board’s approval of the release of the second loan tranche of $700 million. The IMF board is scheduled to meet on January 11. The foreign assistance came from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB). The IMF expects Pakistan’s foreign currency reserves to reach $9 billion by the end of June 2024. Its new country report is expected to be released after the board meeting where revised numbers may be provided.