KARACHI
\nThe rupee on Friday edged lower against the dollar in the interbank market on weak dollar supplies, dealers said.
\nThe local unit ended at 223.94 per dollar, compared with Thursday\u2019s close of 223.92.
\nIn the open market, the domestic currency closed unchanged for a fourth straight day. It settled at 231 to the dollar.
\nDealers said a mismatch between the demand and supply of dollars in the market and dwindling foreign currency reserves kept the local currency under pressure.
\nThe country\u2019s foreign exchange reserves fell by $151 million to $13.645 billion in the week ended November 18 on the back of foreign debt repayments.
\nIn a surprise move, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) raised the policy rate by 100 basis points to 16 percent in the wake of surging inflation.
\n\u201cSince the SBP\u2019s fresh monetary policy statement notes that external account challenges persist despite a significant moderation in the current account deficit in October and new funding from the Asian Development Bank, it appears that the pressure on the currency forced the SBP to raise interest rates,\u201d said an analyst.
\nThe current account deficit continued to moderate during both September and October, reaching $0.4 and $0.6 billion, respectively, according to the central bank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KARACHI The rupee on Friday edged lower against the dollar in the interbank market on weak dollar supplies, dealers said. The local unit ended at 223.94 per dollar, compared with Thursday\u2019s close of 223.92. In the open market, the domestic currency closed unchanged for a fourth straight day. It settled at 231 to the dollar. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-297711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n