Former finance minister Shaukat Tarin on Friday expressed his concern over decline in the rupee's value against the US dollar, despite the staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
IMF announces staff-level agreement with Pakistan
Taking to Twitter, Tarin shared a screenshot of the rupee's movement and stated, “If this is after the technical agreement with IMF, I am worried what will happen to the rupee in the next four to six weeks before IMF actually disburses the funds.”
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senator was of the view that other international creditors including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and other friendly countries will only disburse funds after the IMF has done so.
Despite reaching a staff-level agreement with the IMF on Thursday, which also covered an additional $1 billion and a nine-month extension of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme, the rupee remained on the receiving end against the US dollar on Friday, falling 0.55%.
“Subject to Board approval, about $1,177 million (SDR 894 million) will become available, bringing total disbursements under the programme to about $4.2 billion,” said the IMF in its statement.
Last week, the former federal minister blamed speculators for driving the rate of dollar upwards, saying that the rate of the greenback should not be more than Rs185 based on Pakistan’s real effective exchange rate (REER).
“While exporters are the main speculators, the role of exchange companies and banks cannot be ruled out,” he told media last week.
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