July 18, 2022: Since Pakistan is getting closer to the IMF tranche as the IMF board meeting is tentatively scheduled in August, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) has appreciated by 70 paisa in early trade compared to the previous close of PKR 210.95 per USD.
The local unit was quoted in the interbank market at 210.43/211.18 per USD [10:00 PST] with trades being reported at 210.25 per USD.
Almost all the conditions put forth by IMF have been met. A very few of them are in the final stages of approval as their ratification was withheld by the Cabinet due to Punjab bye-elections.
Recently, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved a phased increase in electricity and gas rates.
Such outstanding issues are precisely the reason for an IMF board meeting tentatively scheduled in the second half of August, almost a month after the Staff Level Agreement (SLA) is announced, as reported by Dawn News. Otherwise, 15 days are considered normal for the circulation of relevant papers among the IMF executive board members.
Meanwhile, the workers' remittances rose to a record $31.2bn in FY22, up by 6% YoY compared to FY21 which has also stemmed positivity in the interbank market.
