Dollar slips to Rs175.72 as Re gains 48 paisas

KARACHI: Pakistani rupee Tuesday recouped some losses against the US dollar in the interbank market and gained 48 paisas (+o.27 percent).
According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the dollar opened at Rs176.20 and closed at Rs175.72. Within the open market, the rupee was traded at 176/177.50 per dollar.
A day earlier, the dollar hit the highest ever level of Rs176.20. Overall, the local currency shed 26 paisas against the greenback during the last two days. The rupee’s depreciation during the ongoing fiscal year 2021-22 has been Rs18.30 and Rs15.55 in the current year 2021.
Currency experts said that the rupee made recovery on the back of a deposit agreement signed between Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday. Under this deposit agreement, SFD shall place a deposit of USD 3.0 billion with SBP. “The deposit amount shall become part of the central bank’s foreign exchange reserves,” the central bank said. “It will help support Pakistan’s foreign currency reserves and contribute towards resolving the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The experts said that the large import bill of the country has kept the rupee under pressure. The import bill of the country recorded an increase of 65.40 percent to $25.1 billion during the first four months of the current fiscal year as compared to $15.17 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
However, they were hopeful that the rupee may recover in the coming days as the dollar hit Rs175 during the trade in the interbank market on Tuesday while increase in SBP’s foreign exchange reserves will help stabilise rupee in the coming days. They also said that the government in the coming months will receive $1 billion tranche from the International Monetary Fund, which will also strengthen the rupee against the US dollar. – TLTP