KARACHI
\nPakistani rupee edged higher against the US dollar in the inter-bank market for the fourth consecutive session on Monday and improved by 12 paisas (+0.04 percent).
\nThe State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a tweet that the rupee opened at 281.40 against the dollar in the interbank market and closed at 281.28. Overall, the local unit improved by 46 paisas against the greenback last week while it has gained Rs5.63 during the previous eight weeks, which closed on a positive note.
\nSimilarly, the rupee improved by Rs7.01 during the current fiscal year 2023-24 and 58 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.
\nOn the other hand, the local unit remained unchanged against the greenback in the open market. The rupee was quoted at 279.75 for buying and 282.75 for selling as compared to the same rates in the previous session, according to data provided by different exchange companies. The rupee gained Rs3.50 against the greenback in December while it surged by 50 paisas against the greenback last week.
\nThe local currency has advanced against the greenback during the previous eight weeks, a momentum aided by the announcement of a staff-level agreement (SLA) between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the first review of the $3 billion Stand-by Arrangement (SBA). In a key development during the previous week, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data showed that foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank increased by $464 million on a weekly basis, clocking in at $8.2 billion as of December 29.
\nForeign 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 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.
\nThe 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KARACHI Pakistani rupee edged higher against the US dollar in the inter-bank market for the fourth consecutive session on Monday and improved by 12 paisas (+0.04 percent). The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a tweet that the rupee opened at 281.40 against the dollar in the interbank market and closed at 281.28. Overall, […]<\/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":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-379626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n