December 30, 2022 (MLN): Growing concerns about the economic outlook of the country, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) remained under pressure throughout the week as the currency lost 79 paisa against the greenback compared to the previous week’s closing of PKR 225.64 per USD.
Within today’s session, the local unit traded in a band of 11 paisa per USD showing an intraday high bid of 226.50 and low offer of 226.49 while in the open market, PKR was traded at 233.15/235.48per USD.
Dwindling macros and concerns over political uncertainty have kept the domestic currency under severe pressure.
Analyst fraternity and experts are of the view that the central bank artificially kept the value of PKR intact against the US dollar which is of no use as dollars are primarily being actively traded in the grey market.
Adding fuel to the fire, there is a significant difference between the rates offered by the open market and the grey market which has made the grey market attractive for the sellers of dollars.
The absence of dollars from the open market has forced people towards the bullion market which has resulted in a spike in gold prices lately.
Pertaining to the rising concerns on default, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Ishaq Dar said that Pakistan is not going to default as the incumbent government is effectively managing the economic situation of the country by efficiently using its resources.
Though the country is facing hardships that do not mean that the sovereign state is going to give up, he added.
Talking about dollar PKR parity, he admitted that concerns pertaining to the smuggling of dollars to Afghanistan have led PKR towards a bottomless pit.
In FYTD, PKR lost 21.58 rupees or 9.53%, while it plummeted by 49.91 rupees or 22.05% against the USD in CYTD, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.
Meanwhile, the currency lost 57 paisa to the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 273.08 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 272.51 per GBP.
Similarly, PKR's value weakened by 72 paisa against EUR which closed at PKR 241.31 at the interbank today.
On another note, within the money market, the overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 16.50/16.70%, whereas the 1-week rate was 15.45/15.55%.
Copyright Mettis Link News
Posted on: 2022-12-30T17:41:11+05:00
