KARACHI
\nPakistani rupee appreciated by 37 paisas (+0.13 percent) against the US dollar in the interbank market on Thursday.
\nThe State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a tweet that the rupee opened at 277.41 against the dollar in the interbank market and closed at 277.04.
\nHowever, the local unit struggled against the greenback in the open market and depreciated by Re1 (-0.36 percent). The rupee was quoted in the range of 279-282 against the dollar in the open market as compared to 278-281 a session earlier. In the black market\/Hundi, the dollar was quoted at Rs298 against Rs296 a session earlier.
\nDuring the recently started fiscal year 2023-24, Pakistani rupee has gained Rs8.95 against the US dollar in the interbank market, while it plummeted by Rs50.61 against the greenback in the current year. The optimism in the market stemmed from Pakistan narrowly escaping default after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced a staff-level agreement with Pakistan worth $3 billion.
\nPrime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said he is hopeful that the $3 billion nine-month bailout from the IMF would be approved by the lender\u2019s board when it meets on July 12. The staff-level agreement has already been finalised, he added.
\nThe executive board of the IMF will meet on July 12 to review the $3 billion Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) for Pakistan, the staff-level pact for which was finalised last week. Pakistan was absent from an earlier schedule released in June, igniting speculation that the IMF was not going to release funds from an earlier programme that expired on June 30. On June 29, the IMF and Pakistan reached a stand-by arrangement (SBA) to ease the country\u2019s financial crisis. The nine-month SBA, if approved, will bring $3bn, or 111 percent of Pakistan\u2019s IMF quota.
\nThe board\u2019s approvals are generally granted once a staff-level agreement is done. The Pakistan government was expecting about $2.5 billion from the IMF, but it was given $3 billion. Pakistan had earlier cleared eight of the 11 listed programme reviews, with the ninth review pending since November last year. The SBA, subject to the IMF board approval, offers much-needed relief to a country still grappling with a severe balance of payments crisis and declining foreign exchange reserves. Pakistan has submitted a letter of intent to the IMF, assuring the lender that no new tax amnesty will be introduced in the next nine months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KARACHI Pakistani rupee appreciated by 37 paisas (+0.13 percent) against the US dollar in the interbank market on Thursday. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a tweet that the rupee opened at 277.41 against the dollar in the interbank market and closed at 277.04. However, the local unit struggled against the greenback in […]<\/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-341843","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n