PKR crashes to an all-time low of 162 per USD

June 26, 2019 (MLN): Pakistani rupee (PKR) sharply depreciated by 5.2 rupees against US Dollar (USD) in today's interbank session as the currency closed the day's trade at PKR 162.17 per USD, against yesterday's closing of PKR 156.99 per USD.

The rupee endured a highly volatile trading session with quotes being recorded in a range of 7.02 rupees per USD showing an intraday high bid of 164.00 and an intraday Low offer of 157.00.

Bearing in mind the freshly agreed deal with the International Monetary fund (IMF), further depreciation was expected in the markets as it is a condition for the agreement.

In the recent past, governor State Bank of Pakistan had said in a press conference that the value of PKR will be based on the supply and demand.

Having said that, the SBP can’t intervene in this matter which means the trade is mainly led by the demand and supply where the latter is apparently in shortage. 

The governor had also pointed out that since fiscal year 2019 is drawing near its end and it is year-end for companies, the demand for USD is also high.

Entailing this, the current round of depreciation further weighs down Pakistan's external debt burden by Rs.548.45 billion which in dollar terms accounts for a $105.84 billion. Pakistan now owes external avenues a total of Rs.17.16 trillion.

Alternatively, the currency gained 2.5 rupees against the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 205.55 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 200.32 per GBP.

On the other hand, PKR's value weakened by 5.5 rupees against EUR which closed at PKR 184.25 at the interbank today.

Within the Open Market, PKR was traded at 158.50/162.00 per USD.

On another note, within the money market, the overnight repo rate towards close of the session was 11.50/12.00 percent, whereas the 1 week rate was 11.75/12.25 percent.

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