Pakistan rupee continued its losing streak against the US dollar in the interbank and shed Rs1.29 (-0.78 percent) during the last week, mainly due to volatile situation in neighbouring Afghanistan and high import bill. According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the US dollar opened at Rs165.62 on Monday last and closed at Rs166.91 on Friday, the last working day of the week. Overall, rupee’s depreciation during the fiscal year 2021-22 has been Rs9.55. The local unit has shed Rs6.72 against the US dollar in the current year 2021. During the last week, the rupee weakened by 34 paisa (-0.20 percent) against the US dollar on Monday and closed at Rs165.96. The local united continued its losing streak for the next three days and weakened by 43 paisa (-0.26 percent) on Tuesday, 48 paisa (-0.29 percent) on Wednesday and 11 paisa (-0.07 percent) on Thursday. As a result of struggling for four consecutive days, the rupee hit its lowest level against the US dollar since August 25, 2020 on Thursday. However, Friday proved to be a good day for the rupee as it snapped its four-day losing streak against the US dollar and recovered seven paisa (+0.04 percent) to settle at 166.91 level against the greenback. The rupee has been witnessing sharp decline due to dismal trade data during the last two months, situation in Afghanistan and higher import bill. The country faced a trade deficit of $4.229 billion in the second month of the fiscal year 2021-22, which surged by 144.17 percent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis in August 2021 as compared to a deficit of $1.732 billion recorded in August 2020. According to the data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the trade deficit on a month-on-month basis surged by 29.68 percent in August 2021 against a deficit of $3.261 billion recorded in July 2021.