KARACHI
Pakistani rupee maintained its winning streak against the US dollar for the 25th consecutive session in the inter-bank market on Tuesday with an appreciation of another Re1.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a tweet that the rupee opened at 280.51 against the dollar in the interbank market and closed at 279.51, showing an appreciation of 0.36 percent.
The ongoing appreciation marks the longest ever winning streak of the local unit against the greenback. The rupee has advanced to the highest level of the current fiscal year 2023-23.
The currency surged more than 6 percent in the past month to become the top performer in the world. The rupee has appreciated by Rs6.48 during the current fiscal year 2023-24, while it has depreciated by Rs50.09 in the current year.
However, the local unit depreciated for the consecutive day against the greenback in the open market and shed Rs1.5 more during the day. The rupee was quoted in the range of 278.5-281.5 a dollar against 277-280 a session earlier. The rupee has appreciated by Rs53 in the last 26 sessions in the open market.
The market experts said the government’s crackdown in the open market against currency speculators and hoarders helped this recovery. However, the room for further improvement is narrowing as the Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) is nearing 100. If the crackdown persists, the unusual volatility widely seen in the open market would come down, they added. They further said that the currency remains fundamentally vulnerable, as the country has yet to see a significant increase in exports and remittances, while imports remain high.
The local currency has significantly gained in the past five weeks, with analysts attributing the rise to an ongoing crackdown on illegal dollar outflows. Currency dealers said that exporters have been selling dollars on a large scale, fearing further devaluation. Moreover, reports of increased vigilance of the Afghan transit trade also contributed to the rupee’s rise, they added.
In a related development, the workers’ remittances increased by 5.34 percent on a month-on-month basis in September to $2.21 billion against $2.09 billion in August amid improved transparency coupled with stringent measures against dollar smuggling, the latest data issued by SBP revealed. However, workers’ remittances decreased by 11.3 percent on a yearly basis as compared to $2.49 billion in the same month last year. Overall, the total remittances stood at $6.33 billion in the first quarter of 2023-24 as compared to $7.9 billion in the first quarter of 2022-23, showing a fall of 19.85 percent.
