Daily Times

Pakistani rupee maintained its winning streak against the US dollar for the sixth straight session and appreciated to 181.58 on Friday. The State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement that the rupee opened at 181.69 against the US dollar in the interbank market and closed at 181.58 after gaining 11 paisas (+0.06 percent). Within the open market, the rupee was traded at 181/182 per dollar against 181/182.25 a day earlier. The rupee has recovered Rs6.60 (+3.45 percent) against the dollar during the last six sessions. Overall, the rupee devalued by Rs24.15 against the US dollar during the ongoing fiscal year 2021-22 and Rs5.13 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.

Meanwhile, the workers’ remittances received by Pakistan hit an all-time high of $2.8 billion in March, extending support to foreign exchange reserves and rupee against the US dollar. Cumulatively, the remittances have risen to $23 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year 2021-22, up by 7.1 percent over the same period of previous year.

However, the foreign exchange reserves of the country dropped for the ninth straight week by $0.45 billion (2.57 percent) on a week-on-week basis to reach $17.03 billion. The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank decreased to $10,849.6 million, while reserves held by commercial banks increased to $6,178.5 million.