PKR closes at 232.93 per USD, down by over three rupees

July 26, 2022 (MLN): Bleeding further the greenback, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) sunk to another new low on Tuesday as the currency settled the trade at PKR 232.93 per USD, sliding by 3.1 rupees compared to the previous close of PKR 229.88 per USD.

The rupee observed a volatile trading session with quotes being recorded in a range of two rupees per USD showing an intraday high bid of 233 and an intraday low offer of 232.75 while in the open market, PKR was traded at 231/234.50 per USD.

In the absence of IMF tranche and foreign assistance from friendly countries, the foreign exchange reserves are continuously melting which has kept pressurizing the local unit.

The rising dollar demand amongst importers on the news of depleting foreign exchange in Pakistan keeps creating chaos and facilitating speculative elements to make the most out of it.

Considering the situation, economists and businessmen are of the view that government should fix the PKR dollar parity for the time being for the sake of economic stability.

The surge in parity is only making the situation worst for the end consumers as a threat of high inflation is looming, Mettis Global, Zafar Paracha, President of Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP) told Mettis Global.

The importers will pass on the burden of higher prices to the consumers in days to come, he added.

If effective policies are not being designed within a certain time period, the economic situation of the country will be out of hand, he warned.

In CYTD, the local unit plummeted by Rs56.41 or 24.22% against the USD while it registered a decline of 12.06% against the greenback in MTD, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.

During the last 52 weeks, PKR lost 29.86% against the greenback while reaching its lowest at 232.92 on July 26, 2022, and the highest of 161.32 on July 27, 2021.

Furthermore, the local unit has weakened by 20.21% and 20.77% against EUR and GBP, respectively since its high on July 26, 2021.

In addition to it, the performance of the local unit remained bleak against other major currencies in today's session as the currency lost 4.3 rupees or 1.53% to the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 280.58 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 276.29 per GBP. Similarly, PKR's value weakened by 3.2 rupees against EUR or 1.35% which closed at PKR 238.06 at the interbank today.

Moreover, PKR has also depreciated against SAR, AED, CNY, CHF, and JPY by 1.32%, 1.31%, 1.25%, 1.16%, and 1.06%, respectively.

On another note, within the money market, the overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 15.50/15.25 percent, whereas the 1-week rate was 14.75/14.85 percent.

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