Intraday Report: PKR moves up by 35 paisa

February 3, 2022 (MLN): Pakistani rupee (PKR) continued to extend gains during the intraday trade today, appreciating by 35 paisa and trading at PKR176.06 [10:30 PST] mainly on the positivity stemmed in a market due to the IMF board’s approval to release of the 6th tranche of $1 billion under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program for Pakistan.

During the last session, the local unit had closed on PKR176.41 per USD.

With the approval of the $1bn loans, the IMF's lending under the program will increase to $3bn. The remaining $3bn will be disbursed after completing the remaining program reviews.

However, Pakistan is planning to raise $1 billion through an ESG-compliant Eurobond in March, which would follow a similar amount of Sukuk last week, to end its dependence on multilateral lenders by reducing the deficit for sustainable economic growth.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's merchandise trade deficit for the month of January 2022 depicted a decline of 30.2% YoY as imports declined by 22% MoM to clock in at $3.36bn compared to a deficit of $4.8bn in the previous month which has also helped to ease off some pressure on the local unit. 

To note, this is the second consecutive monthly decline in the deficit from its peak in November 2021 when the trade deficit stood at $5bn.

Despite this, SBP foreign reserves fell sharply in January due to sizeable debt payments. Meanwhile, IMF loan and inflow of funds from International Sukuk worth $1bn will give temporary respite to PKR,  Asad Rizvi, the former Treasury Head at Chase Manhattan said today. 

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