KARACHI: Pakistani rupee recorded gains against the US dollar in the inter-bank market for the third straight session and improved by 53 paisas (+0.19 percent) on Monday.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said that the rupee opened at 286.50 against the dollar in the interbank market and closed at 285.97. The rupee improved by 53 paisas last week and Rs2.02 during the current fiscal year 2023-24. However, the rupee depreciated by Rs54.29 in the current year. The rupee gained Rs6.26 (+2.23 percent) against the greenback in the month of October. The currency surged more than 6 percent in September to become the top performer in the world.
Similarly, the Pakistani rupee appreciated by 50 paisas against the greenback in the open market. The rupee was quoted in the range of 285.50-288.50 a dollar as compared to 286-289 in the previous session. The rupee has recovered by Rs43 against the dollar in the last 52 sessions in the open market. During the last week, the PKR lost Re1 for both buying and selling against the USD.
The back to back improvement in rupee’s value came after the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reached a staff-level agreement on Wednesday that paved the way for Pakistan to receive $700 as part of the stand-by agreement. The gap between rates in the inter-bank and open markets is required to be less than 1.25% under one of the structural benchmarks set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In a related development, the current account deficit for October 2023 widened significantly by 60.87 percent MoM to stand at $74 million compared to the deficit of $46 million in September 2023, the latest data issued by the SBP revealed. However, on a yearly basis, the current account deficit showed an improvement of 91 percent YoY, as the deficit stood at $849 million in the same month last year. On a cumulative basis, the current account deficit in the 4MFY24 was recorded at $1.06 billion, showing a significant improvement of 66 percent YoY when compared to the deficit of $3.11 billion in 4MFY23.
Similarly, the workers’ remittances improved by 11.55 percent MoM to $2.46 billion in October as compared to $2.21 billion in the preceding month, while on a yearly basis, the remittances went up by 9.56 percent YoY as it stood at $2.25 billion in October 2022. Cumulatively in 4MFY24, workers’ remittances were recorded at $8.8 billion as compared to $10.15 billion in 4MFY23, showing a fall of 13.31 percent YoY. – TLTP