The rupee continued to extend gains against the US dollar in interbank trade on Thursday morning, appreciating more than Re1 \u2014 a development that is being attributed to the government’s measures to pave way for the release of loan tranches by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).<\/p>\n
According to the Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP), the rupee appreciated Rs1.50 from the previous day’s close of Rs205.40 to reach Rs203.90 by 1pm.<\/p>\n
The FAP’s closing rate of the previous session was higher than the State Bank of Pakistan’s rate of Rs205.12.<\/p>\n
FAP Chairperson Malik Bostan told Dawn.com that the rupee had been showing rapid recovery against the dollar in recent days amid hopes that the IMF would soon release funds of around $2 billion.<\/p>\n
A report by Mettis Global \u2014 web-based financial data and analytics portal \u2014 also linked the rupee’s appreciation witnessed today to the government’s steps aimed at the release of loan tranches by the IMF.<\/p>\n
However, the report added that experts are of the view that this appreciation in the rupee’s value was “short-lived due to a prolonged bullish rally of oil prices in the international market”.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday (yesterday), the National Assembly approved the finance bill for the upcoming fiscal year, with some major changes relating to taxation and levy on petroleum products in line with the government\u2019s commitment to the IMF.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan had received the Memorandum of Economic and Fiscal Policies (MEFP) from the IMF for the combined seventh and eighth reviews of its $6 billion loan programme, which has been stalled since April.<\/p>\n
The MEFP contains certain prior actions that would be necessary for implementation before the IMF board takes up Pakistan\u2019s case for approval and the subsequent disbursement of funds.<\/p>\n
According to the MEFP, Pakistan will have to take at least two more \u201cprior actions\u201d to secure the two combined tranches by the end of July or early August. The prior actions include the passage of the federal budget as agreed to with the IMF and presented in the National Assembly on June 24 and present a memorandum of understanding duly signed by the provincial governments to jointly provide about Rs750bn cash surplus to the centre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The rupee continued to extend gains against the US dollar in interbank trade on Thursday morning, appreciating more than Re1 \u2014 a development that is being attributed to the government’s measures to pave way for the release of loan tranches by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to the Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP), the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263419,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[181,186,6490],"class_list":{"0":"post-269005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-dollar","9":"tag-imf","10":"tag-pkr"},"yoast_head":"\n