March 25, 2022 (MLN): Pakistani rupee (PKR) continued its losing journey once again today after taking a breather on Thursday as the currency closed the week at PKR 181.78 per USD, depreciating by 5 paisa in the interbank market.
The rupee traded in a range of 25 paisa showing an intraday high bid of 181.95 and an intraday low offer of 181.75.
Owing to the set of notable reasons including the war between Russia and Ukraine, volatility in international commodity prices, uncertainty pertaining to the domestic political scenario, inflationary threats, and substantial decline in forex reserve, the local unit has been witnessing a free-fall throughout the week.
This political tussle between Premiere and opposition on the no-confidence motion and pressure of external payments have made the environment worst for PKR.
Resultantly, the currency has lost 1.2 rupees against the greenback during the week while crossing the phycological level of 180, as the previous week was concluded at PKR 180.57 per USD.
From July’21 to date, the local unit has lost Rs24.24 against the USD. Similarly, the rupee fell by PKR5.27 in CY22, with the month-to-date (MTD) position showing a decline of 2.43%, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.
In addition, the performance of PKR remained bleak against major currencies during the week as it depreciated by 1.52%, 1.12%, 0.68%, 0.67%, 0.67%, and 0.34% against CHF, GBP, SAR, AED, CNY, and EUR respectively. However, the currency has strengthened by 1.62% against JPY.
During the last 52 weeks, PKR lost 16.23% against the greenback, reached its lowest at 181.78 today and touched its high of 152.27 on May 7, 2021.
Furthermore, the local unit has weakened by 10.51% since its high on March 31, 2021, against EUR. While, it has dropped by 12.61% against GBP since its high on April 09, 2021.
Within the open market, PKR was traded at 181.70/182.70 per USD.
Meanwhile, the currency lost 36 paisa to the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 239.89 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 239.53 per GBP.
Similarly, PKR's value weakened by 1 rupee against EUR which closed at PKR 200.47 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 Rs2.4 trillion into the market for 6 days at 9.76 percent.
The overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 10.50/10.70 percent, whereas the 1-week rate was 10.10/10.20 percent.
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