PKR reclaims lost ground against greenback, up by 62 paisa

February 22, 2023 (MLN): The Pakistani rupee (PKR) rebounded strongly on Wednesday, buoyed by positive news flows pertaining to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program which let the currency appreciate by 62 paisa against the greenback in interbank session to settle the trade at PKR 261.9 per USD compared to yesterday's closing of PKR 262.51 per USD.

Throughout the session, the local unit traded in a band of 1.26 rupees, showing an intraday high bid of 262.75 and low offer of 261.99 while in the open market, PKR was traded at 266/269 per USD.

The government has made significant progress in meeting the IMF terms, with only one or two items remaining to achieve full compliance, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said while addressing a meeting with Federal Cabinet.

Amidst the current challenging circumstances faced by the country, it is prudent to consider implementing austerity measures, he emphasized.

In addition, cash-strapped Pakistan is set to receive a much-needed boost as China is likely t to provide a loan of $700 million.

According to Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Ishaq Dar, the loan has been approved by the Board of China Development Bank and all formalities have been completed.

The loan is expected to be received by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) this week, which will help shore up the country's foreign exchange reserves.

At present, the foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP stood at $3.19 billion.

In FYTD, PKR lost 57.05 rupees or 21.78%, while it plummeted by 35.46 rupees or 13.54% against the USD in CYTD. On the other hand, within the last seven sessions, the local unit moved up by 1.33%, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.

Alternatively, the currency lost 1.5 rupees to the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 316.98 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 315.45 per GBP.

On the other hand, PKR's value strengthened by 1 rupee against EUR which closed at PKR 279.05 at the interbank today.

On another note, within the money market, the overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 16%/16.1%, whereas the 1-week rate was 16.65%/16.75%.

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