KARACHI
\nPakistani rupee continued making gains against the US dollar in the interbank market for the eighth week in a row and improved by 46 paisas, while it appreciated by Re1 in the open market.
\nAccording to details, the rupee opened at 281.86 against the greenback in the interbank market on Monday last and closed at 281.40 on Friday, registering a rise of 0.16 percent week-on-week. Overall, the local unit has improved by Rs5.63 during the previous eight weeks.
\nSimilarly, the rupee improved by Rs6.89 during the current fiscal year 2023-24 and 46 paisas in the current year. The rupee gained Rs3.31 against the US dollar in December, while it 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.
\nFollowing suit, the local unit gained Re1 against the greenback in the open market and closed the week in the range of 279.5-282.5 after opening the week at 280.5-283.5 on Monday, according to data provided by different exchange companies.
\nThe rupee has gained Rs1.5 against the greenback in the previous three weeks while it gained Rs3.50 in December.
\nMeanwhile, Pakistan\u2019s foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP increased for the second consecutive week, hitting a five-and-a-half-month high at $8.22 billion, according to SBP. Foreign currency reserves have cumulatively risen by $1.32 billion in two weeks, which reflects a rebound from almost six-month low of $6.90 billion hit on December 15, 2023. The reserves grew on the back of official inflows coming from multilateral creditors. This helped the country to meet the International Monetary Fund\u2019s (IMF) end-December quarterly target of net foreign assets (NFA).
\nThe back-to-back multilateral funding at this point in time surprised financial markets globally as well as locally as experts had expected such receipts post-IMF board\u2019s approval of the release of a second loan tranche of $700 million. The IMF board is scheduled to meet on January 11. The foreign assistance came from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB). The IMF expects Pakistan\u2019s foreign currency reserves to reach $9 billion by the end of June 2024. Its new country report is expected to be released after the board meeting where revised numbers may be provided.
\nThe spread between interbank and open market rates, which reached a high of around 9% in May last has now almost vanished, well below the IMF\u2019s 1.25 percent recommended limit. Improved transparency, lower spread between interbank and black market rates, coupled with strict measures against dollar smuggling are also expected to boost workers\u2019 remittances. These inflows will be crucial for the cash-strapped county to meet its external financial obligations and stabilize PKR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KARACHI Pakistani rupee continued making gains against the US dollar in the interbank market for the eighth week in a row and improved by 46 paisas, while it appreciated by Re1 in the open market. According to details, the rupee opened at 281.86 against the greenback in the interbank market on Monday last and closed […]<\/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-379423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n