Daily Times

The rupee depreciated against the US dollar for the second straight session in the inter-bank market with a depreciation of five paisas on Tuesday.

According to data released by the State Bank, the rupee shed around 0.02 percent in value against the dollar over the previous session’s closing value. The data showed that the rupee shed Rs0.05 in value, falling from the last session’s close of Rs278.33 to Rs278.38.

The rupee depreciated by around 37 paisa last week, going down from 277.94 to 278.31 per US dollar. The local unit shed two paisas against the greenback on Monday last. Overall, the rupee has improved by Rs9.91 against the greenback during the current fiscal year 2023-24. The local unit improved by Rs1.16 in March, 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) in the month of October.

Meanwhile, the local unit in the open market was quoted at 278.30 for buying and 280.30 for selling, according to data provided by different exchange companies. The rupee surged against the greenback by Re1 in March and February, Rs2 in January and Rs3.50 in December.

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Tuesday that he expected the foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP to close the current fiscal year at around the $9-10 billion mark. Reserves held by the central bank are currently just over $8 billion despite making a $1-billion bond payment.

In a related development, Pakistan has recorded a foreign direct investment (FDI) of $258.04 million in March, compared to an FDI of $169.91 million in the same period last year, the latest data issued by the SBP showed. Comparison on a month-on-month basis shows that the country reported a direct investment of $131.2m in the previous month. Cumulatively in the first nine months (July-March) of this fiscal year 2023-24, the country fetched an FDI of $1.1 billion against the $1.22 billion attracted in the same period last year.