Daily Times

Consolidating the previous week’s gains, Pakistani rupee strengthened by 15 paisa (+0.09 percent) against the US dollar on Monday.

The State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement that the dollar opened at Rs176.07 in the interbank market and closed at Rs175.92. The rupee witnessed a dull trading range during the session, showing the intraday high bid of 176 and low offer of 175.80. Within the open market, the rupee was traded at 177/178 per dollar.

Overall Pakistan rupee gained 60 paisa against the US dollar last week, while it has appreciated by 59 paisa during the current year 2022. The local unit has depreciated by Rs18.49 during the ongoing fiscal year 2021-22.

One of the reasons behind dollar’s low demand was a public holiday in the United States and closure of businesses there, as the third Monday of every January is observed as Martin Luther King Jr Day.

According to experts, the rupee is likely to remain stable against the dollar amid positive sentiment that the government is taking serious steps for the revival of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Extended Fund Facility (EFF). President Dr Arif Alvi on Saturday last signed the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021, generally known as the mini-budget, thus fulfilling one of the key conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Again, the approval of the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021 from the National Assembly on Thursday last was another step to pave the way for the revival of the IMF programme. If the bill is also passed from the Senate, it will ensure that Pakistan’s sixth review of the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility gets cleared by the IMF’s executive board.

Moreover, support provided through inflows from exporters as well as Roshan Digital Account (RDA) and lower import payments on a month-on-month basis in December last also improved market confidence. The workers’ remittances rose to $15.8 billion during the first six months (July-December) of the current fiscal year 2021-22, showing a growth of 11.3 percent on a year-on-year basis, while RDA crossed the $3.16 billion mark. The import bill in December 2021 lowered to $7,597 million from $7,899 million in November, showing a decrease of 3.82 percent on a month-on-month basis.

Moreover, the rupee’s stabilisation is also the result of the apt measures taken by the central bank in recent months to improve the transparency in the foreign exchange market.