KARACHI
Pakistani rupee improved by 12 paisas (+0.04 percent) against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Tuesday. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a tweet that the rupee opened at 283.90 against the dollar in the interbank market and closed at 283.78.
The local unit improved by Rs3.16 during the previous four weeks. Similarly, the rupee improved by Rs4.51 during the current fiscal year 2023-24. However, the rupee depreciated by Rs52.94 in the current year. The rupee shed Rs3.69 against the US dollar in November after gaining Rs6.26 (+2.23 percent) against the greenback in the month of October. The currency surged more than 6 percent in September to become the top performer in the world.
On the other hand, the local unit gained 50 paisas against the greenback in the open market. The rupee was quoted at 282 for buying and 285 for selling as compared to 282.50 for buying and 285.50 for selling in the previous session.
The rupee remained almost stable against the greenback last week.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decreased by $237 million on a weekly basis, clocking in at $7.02 billion as of December 1.
Despite a decline in foreign exchange reserves, the market remains confident amid an expected release of funds by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) next month, said experts. As per a report, the IMF’s executive board will meet on January 11 to consider the final approval to disburse the next $700 million tranche from its current loan programme with Pakistan. The current IMF programme of $3 billion is scheduled to end in the second week of April 2024, with around $1.8 billion remaining undisbursed. The Fund released $1.2 billion as the first tranche in July.
On the other hand, the workers’ remittances dropped by 8.63 percent month-on-month in November to $2.25 billion as compared to $2.46 billion in October. However, on a yearly basis, workers’ remittances increased by 3.56 percent as compared to $2.17 billion in the same month last year. During the first five months of the current fiscal year 2023-24, the total remittances stood at $11.05 billion as compared to $12.32 billion in the same period of the last financial year, depicting a decline of 10.33 percent.
