Pakistani rupee maintained its winning streak against the US dollar for the fifth straight session and appreciated to 181.69 on Thursday. The State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement that the rupee opened at 181.82 against the US dollar in the interbank market and closed at 181.69 after gaining 13 paisas (+0.07 percent). Within the open market, the rupee was traded at 181/182.25 per dollar against 180.5/181.5 a day earlier. The rupee has recovered Rs6.49 (+3.45 percent) against the dollar during the last five sessions. Overall, the rupee shed Rs0.69 against the US dollar last week, while the local unit devalued by Rs24.26 during the ongoing fiscal year 2021-22 and Rs5.24 during the current year 2022. According to the currency experts, the rupee is undervalued while the dollar is overvalued due to its demand. Former finance minister Shaukat Tarin said recently that the rupee is undervalued. Tarin’s statement was later supported by former finance minister Ishaq Dar, who also said that the rupee can strengthen to 160 a dollar if the economy is steered in the right direction. The currency analysts said that with the formation of the new government, the current political crisis has come to an end and the rupee may recover further in the coming days. They said the rupee appreciated against the greenback after much clarity on the domestic political landscape. Apart from clarity on the political front, the other helping factors could be the slow demand for dollars from importers as they may be waiting for some more correction. Moreover, the flow of remittances increases during Ramzan and this is also helping the rupee appreciate against foreign currencies. The central bank’s bold move to raise the policy rate by 250bps last week also provided support to rupee.