Rupee loses 1.97 to hit 277.41 vs dollar in interbank

KARACHI: Pakistani rupee weakened against the US dollar in the interbank market by Rs1.97 (-0.71 percent) on Wednesday.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a tweet that the rupee opened at 275.44 against the dollar in the interbank market and closed at 277.41.
Similarly, the local unit struggled against the greenback in the open market and was quoted in the range of 278-281 as compared to 275-280 a session earlier. In the black market/Hundi, the dollar was quoted at Rs296.
During the recently started fiscal year 2023-24, Pakistani rupee has gained Rs8.58 against the US dollar in the interbank market, while it plummeted by Rs50.98 against the greenback in the current year. The optimism in the market stemmed from Pakistan narrowly escaping default after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced a staff-level agreement with Pakistan worth $3 billion.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said he is hopeful that the $3 billion nine-month bailout from the IMF would be approved by the lender’s board when it meets on July 12. The staff-level agreement has already been finalised, he added.
The executive board of the IMF will meet on July 12 to review the $3 billion Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) for Pakistan, the staff-level pact for which was finalised last week. Pakistan was absent from an earlier schedule released in June, igniting speculation that the IMF was not going to release funds from an earlier programme that expired on June 30. On June 29, the IMF and Pakistan reached a stand-by arrangement (SBA) to ease the country’s financial crisis. The nine-month SBA, if approved, will bring $3bn, or 111 percent of Pakistan’s IMF quota.
The board’s approvals are generally granted once a staff-level agreement is done. The Pakistan government was expecting about $2.5 billion from the IMF, but it was given $3 billion. Pakistan had earlier cleared eight of the 11 listed programme reviews, with the ninth review pending since November last year. The SBA, subject to the IMF board approval, offers much-needed relief to a country still grappling with a severe balance of payments crisis and declining foreign exchange reserves. Pakistan has submitted a letter of intent to the IMF, assuring the lender that no new tax amnesty will be introduced in the next nine months. – TLTP