KARACHI
Pakistani rupee inched down against the US dollar for the in the inter-bank market on Monday with a depreciation of one paisa.
According to data released by the State Bank, the rupee shed around 0.004 percent in value against the dollar over the previous session’s closing value. The data showed that the rupee shed Rs0.01 in value, falling from the last session’s close of Rs278.39 to Rs278.40.
The rupee registered a slight decline against the US dollar last week as it settled lower by Re0.08 or 0.2%. The local unit ended at 278.39 against 278.31 it had closed the week earlier against the greenback.
The rupee started the previous week with a minor loss but remained largely stable in the next two sessions, followed by a marginal loss in the fourth session. Friday’s session was positive for the local currency as it gained Re0.09 that day.
Overall, the rupee has improved by Rs9.73 against the greenback during the current fiscal year 2023-24. The local unit improved by Rs1.16 in March, Rs0.39 in February, Rs2.36 in January and Rs3.31 in December, while it shed Rs3.69 against the US dollar in November after gaining Rs6.26 (+2.23 percent) in the month of October.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said its Executive Board would meet on April 29 to discuss the approval of $1.1 billion funding for Pakistan. The inflow from the IMF will give some support to foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), which fell below $8 billion as of April 19 due to external debt repayments.
In a related development, foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP decreased by $74 million on a weekly basis, clocking in at $7.981 billion as of April 19, data released on Thursday showed. Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $13.28 billion. Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks stood at $5.299 billion. The central bank cited external debt repayments as the reason for the decrease in the foreign currency reserves.
