Daily Times

The Pakistani rupee continued its losing spree and reached a new all-time low of 201.41 against the US dollar on Tuesday.

The local currency has been setting all-time new lows for the last 11 sessions. The State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement that the dollar opened at Rs200.93 in the interbank market and closed at Rs201.41 after losing 48 paisas (-0.24 percent). Within the open market, the rupee was traded at 202/203 per dollar against 201.5/202 a dollar a session earlier. The local unit has shed Rs13.51 during the previous two weeks. Overall, the rupee has depreciated by Rs43.92 against the US dollar during the ongoing fiscal year 2021-22 and Rs25.10 during the current year 2022. Although the rupee continued to slide, yet talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the loan revival programme has slowed its depreciation spree during the last three sessions. The currency experts said that until the government secures funding from friendly countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) resumes its programme, the economic situation will not improve. They said that importers have been engaged in panic buying as they are uncertain about whether or not the government will be able to secure funding from foreign institutions, while exporters have held their earnings outside the country amid a consistent fall in the rupee’s value.

The government began talks with the IMF on Wednesday last over the release of crucial funds. Pakistan has repeatedly sought international support for its economy, which has been hit by crippling national debt, galloping inflation and a plummeting rupee. The talks are being held in the Qatari capital Doha, the Ministry of Finance said, and are expected to continue into next week. Another factor causing the rupee’s instability is depleting foreign exchange reserves, as the country’s reserves decreased by $215 million (-1.3 percent) to $16.161 billion in the week ended on May 13, compared to $16.376 billion in the preceding week. The SBP reserves decreased by $145 million to $10.163 billion, while reserves of commercial banks fell 1.1 percent to $5.997 billion. The SBP reserves are enough to cover 1.52 months of imports.