KARACHI
Pakistani rupee snapped a nine-day winning streak against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Monday and inched down by 3 paisas (-0.01 percent).
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a tweet that the rupee opened at 283.87 against the dollar in the interbank market and closed at 283.90.
The local unit improved by Rs3.16 during the previous four weeks. Similarly, the rupee improved by Rs4.39 during the current fiscal year 2023-24. However, the rupee depreciated by Rs53.06 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 282.50 for buying and 285.50 for selling as compared to 283 for buying and 286 for selling in the previous session. The rupee remained almost stable against the greenback last week.
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) 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. Pakistan has been facing an acute balance of payment crisis, with its foreign exchange reserves diminished, along with historically high inflation and an unprecedented currency devaluation.
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 this decrease, mostly owing to loan repayments, optimism abounds as the expected IMF tranche next month is projected to increase reserves.
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.
The central bank will announce the monetary policy on December 12 (Tuesday). In the last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held on October 30, 2023, the committee had decided to keep the interest rate unchanged at 22 percent.
