PKR loses further 1.1 rupees against USD

April 05, 2022 (MLN): Enduring a free fall owing to the ongoing political unrest, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) depreciated by 1.1 rupees against the US dollar in today's interbank session as the currency closed the day's trade at PKR 185.23, compared to the previous closing of PKR 184.09 per USD.

The rupee endured a highly volatile trading session with quotes being recorded in a range of 1.3 rupees per USD showing an intraday high bid of 185.40 and an intraday low offer of 184.25.

In addition to the political turmoil, the upward rally of commodity prices, a substantial decline in foreign exchange reserves, and deteriorating current account balance have forced the domestic unit to cross PKR185 against the greenback.

Ali Khizar, Independent Economist expressed his concerns in his latest video message over the standstill IMF program, PKR depreciation that crossed 185 per USD and falling reserves that are not sufficient enough to cover import bill for two months.

He emphasized that Supreme Court should reach any decision at the earliest so that the new government could be formed to address the macro concerns otherwise Pakistan’s economy would be no different than Srilanka which is currently under a state of emergency.

From July’21 to date, the local unit has lost Rs27.68 against the USD. Similarly, the rupee fell by Rs8.72 in CY22, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.

During the last 52 weeks, PKR lost 17.79% against the greenback, reached its lowest at 185.23 today and touched its high of 152.27 on May 7, 2021.

Furthermore, the local unit has weakened by 10.91% since its high on March 31, 2021, against EUR.  While, it has dropped by 13.77% against GBP since its high on April 09, 2021.

In addition, the performance of PKR remained bleak against major currencies during the fiscal year to date as it depreciated by 16.21%, 14.95%, 14.93%, 14.70%, 10.35%, and 7.93% against CNY, AED, SAR, CHF, GBP, and EUR, respectively.

Within the open market, PKR was traded at 185.50/186.50 per USD.

Meanwhile, the currency lost 1.5 rupees to the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 243.14 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 241.63 per GBP.

On the other hand, PKR's value strengthened by 26 paisa against EUR which closed at PKR 203.4 at the interbank today.

On another note, within the money market, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) conducted an Open Market Operation (OMO) in which it injected Rs366.4 billion into the market for 3 days at 9.83 percent.

The overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 9.90/10.10 percent, whereas the 1-week rate was 9.95/10.05 percent.

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