PKR drops to 181.25/USD in interbank market

March 21, 2022 (MLN): Enduring its losing momentum, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) has slipped further by 68 paisa against the greenback in today's interbank session as the currency closed the trade at PKR 181.25.

On Friday, the local unit had settled at PKR 180.57 per USD.

The rupee endured a highly volatile trading session with quotes being recorded in a range of 80 paisa per USD showing an intraday high bid of 181.30 and an intraday low offer of 180.65.

The ongoing uncertainty in domestic politics, IMF's concerns on PM's relief package along with unconcluded talks between Russia and Ukraine which have raised the concern of a prolonged disruption to oil supply have made PKR sink into the deep well of depreciation where it is making fresh lows without any hesitation.

From July’21 to date, the local unit has lost Rs23.7 against the USD. Similarly, the rupee fell by PKR4.73 in CY22, with the month-to-date (MTD) position showing a decline of 2.09%, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.

On the other hand, the performance of PKR remained comparatively better against GBP and JPY as it appreciated by 0.54% and 0.49%, respectively during one month. However, during the same period, it has weakened by 2.99%, 2.97%, 2.49%, 1.85%, and 0.17% against SAR, AED, CNY, and CHF respectively.

During the last 52 weeks, PKR lost 15.99% against the greenback, reached its lowest at 181.24 today and touched its high of 152.27 on May 7, 2021.

Furthermore, the local unit has weakened by 10.45% since its high on March 31, 2021, against EUR.  While, it has dropped by 12.05% against GBP since its high on April 09, 2021.

Within the open market, PKR was traded at 180.30/181.30 per USD.

Meanwhile, the currency lost 1.2 rupees to the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 238.37 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 237.2 per GBP.

Similarly, PKR's value weakened by 56 paisa against EUR which closed at PKR 200.34 at the interbank today.

On another note, within the money market, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) conducted an Open Market Operation in which it injected Rs.1.78 trillion for 7 days at 8.91 percent.

The overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 10.25/10.50 percent, whereas the 1-week rate was 10.08/10.18 percent.

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