Pakistani rupee snapped its seven-day winning streak against the US dollar and depreciated to 182.54 on Monday. The State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement that the rupee opened at 181.55 against the US dollar in the interbank market and closed at 182.54 after shedding 99 paisas (-0.54 percent). Within the open market, the rupee was traded at 182.30/183.50 per dollar against 181/182 a day earlier. The rupee broke its nine-week losing streak against the US dollar last week and gained Rs3.13 (1.69 percent) by recovering from 184.68 to Rs181.55. Overall, the rupee devalued by Rs25.11 against the US dollar during the ongoing fiscal year 2021-22 and Rs6.09 during the current year 2022. According to experts, widening fiscal and trade deficits have always been behind a strong spell of depreciation. They said that delay in formation of the federal cabinet and economic challenges have hit the rupee. They said that rising crude oil and commodities prices are further adding to the woes by multiplying import bill, which is further weighing on rupee. 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.