The Pakistani rupee recorded losses against the US dollar in the open market on Friday, while the local currency also weakened in the inter-bank market.
During the day, currency dealers Business Recorder reached out to said the rupee was being quoted at 286.25 for selling and 283.25 for buying purposes for customers.
At the end of trading, the currency closed at 286.50 for selling and 283.50 for buying purposes, according to data provided by the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP).
On Thursday, it had closed at 283 for buying and 286 for selling.
In the inter-bank market, the Pakistani rupee sustained losses against the US dollar as it depreciated 0.04% on Friday. As per the State Bank of Pakistan, the currency settled at 285.37, a decrease of Re0.10.
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).
Pakistan is operating under a caretaker government after a $3 billion IMF loan programme was approved in July to avert a sovereign debt default.
Last week, the IMF staff and Pakistani authorities reached a staff-level agreement on the first review of the IMF Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) program.
This outcome was critical for Pakistan’s facing low foreign exchange reserves.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported a steep decline of $217 million in its foreign exchange reserves to $7.18 billion due to debt repayments during the week ended on November 17, which is less than three months of imports.
The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $12.3 billion while the holdings of the commercial banks were $5.12 billion during the week.
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