Daily Times

Pakistani rupee inched up against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Tuesday, appreciating by 0.02 percent.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said that the rupee opened at 278.13 against the dollar in the interbank market and closed at 278.08, gaining five paisas.

The local unit gained 60 paisas against the greenback last week. Overall, the rupee has improved by Rs10.21 during the current fiscal year 2023-24. The local unit improved by Rs0.39 in February, Rs2.36 in January and Rs3.31 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.

Similarly, the local unit gained traction against the greenback in the open market. The rupee was quoted at 277.83 for buying and 278.08 for selling against 278.24 for buying and 280.86 for selling a session ago, according to data provided by different exchange companies. The rupee surged against the greenback by Re1 in February, Rs2 in January and Rs3.50 in December.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said last week that he was looking to tap Chinese investors by selling as much as $300 million in Panda Bonds for the first time this year, reported Bloomberg on Friday. Selling yuan-denominated debt will allow Pakistan to diversify its funding sources and reach investors in a new market, Aurangzeb said, added the report. It’s something “we should have looked at quite frankly some time back,” he was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the country’s total liquid foreign reserves rose by $239 million during the last week, the SBP reported on Thursday. The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $13.391 billion as of March 15, 2024 compared to $13.151 billion. During the week under review, SBP’s reserves increased by $105 million to reach $8.018 billion, up from $7.913 billion. Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks stood at $5.373 billion, surged by $134 million in a week. The current level of foreign reserves is sufficient to cover the import bill of 1.54 months.