PKR sheds 22 paisa against USD

December 05, 2022 (MLN): After holding its ground for over a week, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) has depreciated by 22 paisa against the US dollar in today's interbank session as the currency settled the day's trade at PKR 223.91 per USD, compared to previous session's closing of PKR 223.69 per USD.

During the session, the rupee traded in a band of 35 paisa per USD showing an intraday high bid of 224 and low offer of 223.90 while in the open market, PKR was traded at 228.75/231 per USD.

The local unit came under pressure once again on the back of delay in IMF talks, dwindling foreign exchange reserves, and political noise.

Though Pakistan paid $1bn against Sukuk bonds, three days earlier before the maturity and Saudi Arabia extended the term for a $3bn deposit to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) under SFD, the currency slipped on macroeconomic concerns.

Meanwhile, recent remarks of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar regarding the IMF have also created chaos in the market.

Going forward, given low foreign reserves, it is highly likely that the official exchange rate will reach Rs270 by June 2023 with FY23, a report by Topline Securities noted.

In FYTD, PKR lost 19.06 rupees or 8.52%, while it plummeted by 47.39 rupees or 21.17% against the USD in CYTD, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.

The currency lost 92 paisa to the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 274.65 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 273.73 per GBP.

Similarly, PKR's value weakened by 52 paisa against EUR which closed at PKR 236.09 at the interbank today.

Within the money market, SBP conducted an Open Market Operation (OMO) today, in which it moped up to Rs506.5 billion from the market for 4 days at 15.98%.

On another note, the overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 15.10/15.40% whereas the 1-week rate was 15.70/15.80%.

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