PKR Closing: Slow Burn

December 27, 2022 (MLN): Riding on a downward trail, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) depreciated by 33 paisa against the US dollar in today's interbank session as the currency settled the trade at PKR 226.15 per USD, compared to the previous closing of PKR 225.82 per USD.

During the session, the rupee traded in a band of 10 paisa per USD showing an intraday high bid of 225.75 and low offer of 225.90 while in the open market, PKR was traded at 232.20/234.52 per USD.

Analyst fraternity and experts are of the view that the central bank artificially kept the value of PKR intact against the US dollar which is of no use as dollars are primarily being actively traded in the grey market.

Adding fuel to the fire, there is a significant difference between the rates offered by the open market and the grey market which has made the grey market attractive for the sellers of dollars.

Meanwhile, everyone in the interbank market knows that this artificial holding of the dollar’s value is only doable for the short term. Thus, exporters are waiting to end the period of stability in the interbank market to encash their receipts

Meanwhile, the currency lost 52 paisa to the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 272.8 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 272.27 per GBP.

Similarly, PKR's value weakened by 1 rupee against EUR which closed at PKR 240.87 at the interbank today.

In FYTD, PKR lost 19.06 rupees or 8.52%, while it plummeted by 47.4 rupees or 21.17% against the USD in CYTD, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.

On another note, within the money market, the central bank conducted an Open Market Operation (OMO), and Shariah-compliant Mudarabah OMO today, in which it cumulatively injected a total of Rs303 billion into the market, from which Rs271bn injected into the market for 3 days at 16.20%.

The overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 15.8%/16%, whereas the 1-week rate was 16.05%/16.15%.

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