KARACHI
Pakistani rupee maintained its winning streak against the US dollar for the 20th consecutive session in the inter-bank market on Wednesday with appreciation of another Rs1.04.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a tweet that the rupee opened at 285.72 against the dollar in the interbank market and closed at 284.68, showing an appreciation of 0.37 percent.
Meanwhile, the local unit appreciated for the 21st consecutive session in the open market by gaining Rs1.5 and was quoted in the range of 281.5-283.5 a dollar against 283-286 a session earlier. The rupee has appreciated by Rs49.5 in the last 21 sessions.
The Pakistani rupee has maintained its upward momentum against the US dollar and the dollar at present is cheaper in the open market as compared to the interbank market.
The ongoing appreciation comes after the central bank intensified efforts to clip the wings of the high-flying dollar and announced a list of structural reforms last month, targeting the exchange companies.
Apart from the central bank measures, the caretaker setup also announced taking administrative steps to tighten the screws around smuggling and hoarding of currency and as a result, countrywide raids were reported with scores of illegal currency exchanges being shut down and foreign currency worth millions confiscated.
The increase is also seen as a positive as it curbs speculation in the currency market. It also means the gap between the inter-bank and open markets has narrowed to negligible levels, meeting the structural benchmark set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The development comes at an apt time for Pakistan which is set to enter the next review of its Stand-By Arrangement with the IMF.
The rupee became one of the top performers globally in September as government crackdown on the illegal dollar trade helped reverse its fortunes, Bloomberg reported on Thursday last. The rupee surged almost 6pc in September, a remarkable feat as most currencies including the Thai baht and South Korean won tumbled against the dollar on speculation US interest-rates will stay elevated for longer. The currency slid to a record-low of about 307 versus dollar this month and then bounced back to 287.74 at the end of the month, reported Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP witnessed a 0.76 percent decrease on a week-on-week basis, with the total now standing at $7.64 billion. On the other hand, the workers’ remittances dropped by 23.74 percent on a year-on-year basis to $2.09 billion in August.
