PKR secures ground by 2.1 rupees per USD

February 14, 2023 (MLN): As the government is on its toes to satisfy the IMF conditions, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) appreciated by 2.1 rupees against the US dollar in today's interbank session as the currency settled the trade at PKR 267.34 per USD, compared to yesterday's closing of PKR 269.44 per USD.

Throughout the session, the local unit traded in a band of 2.77 rupees, showing an intraday high bid of 269.27 and low offer of 267 while in the open market, PKR was traded at 268/272.50 per USD.

In a bid to unlock the IMF tranche, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Monday approved the gas price revision proposal for domestic, commercial, and power sectors. 

This is leading to further conviction on the resumption of the program, Fahad Rauf, Head of Research at Ismail Iqbal Securities told Mettis Global.

 Moreover, the reduction in the gap between official and informal rates has improved the inflows, he added.

News reports suggest that the government will implement the tax and non-tax measures demanded by the IMF as a prior action through a Presidential Ordinance. Although the timeline may be subject to change, it is expected that the SLA will be signed in the next few weeks, as noted by Topline Securities in the latest report.

Following this, the IMF Board's approval is likely to come in about a month, paving the way for the disbursement of a $1bn tranche from the IMF and additional funding from the World Bank, ADB, and friendly nations.

Meanwhile, in the latest development, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has decided to initiate necessary action in all those export cases where full export proceeds are not realized within the prescribed time period in order to ensure the timely realization of export proceeds. 

Alternatively, the currency lost 47 paisa to the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 324.81 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 324.34 per GBP.

On the other hand, PKR's value strengthened by 42 paisa against EUR which closed at PKR 286.99 at the interbank today.

In FYTD, PKR lost 62.49 rupees or 23.38%, while it plummeted by 40.91 rupees or 15.30% against the USD in CYTD. On the other hand, within the last seven sessions, the local unit moved up by 3.34%, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.

On another note, within the money market, the overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 16.10%/16.30%, whereas the 1-week rate was 16.55%/16.65%.

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