KARACHI: The rupee continued its appreciation run for the 11th consecutive week as it gained Re0.31 or 0.11% against the US dollar in the inter-bank market. This marginal yet continuous recovery of the local unit has been on the back of approval of $705.6 million in second tranche of the $3 billion Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
During the previous week, the IMF inflow reflected in the foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), which increased by $243 million on a weekly basis, clocking in at $8.27 billion as of January 19. However, debt repayments by the central bank consumed more than half of the amount released from the IMF.
Meanwhile, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar directed the Ministry of Energy to prepare and submit a comprehensive and sustainable plan after consultation with the Finance Ministry to reduce the circular debt of power and gas sectors.
Moreover, the SBP decided to revamp the foreign exchange trading system and announced to introduce a Centralised Foreign Exchange (FX) Trading Platform called “FX Matching” for the interbank FX market to bring more transparency to the interbank market. Effective January 29 (today), it will be mandatory for ADs to use ‘FX Matching’ or FXT dealing for executing outright interbank FX transactions.
Analysts said the centralised trading platform would reduce the volatility in the interbank market and support a free and fair FX trading system. It is worth mentioning that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the SBP is also due today to decide about the policy rate. In the open market, the PKR lost 16.00 paisa for buying and 10.00 paisa for selling against USD, closing at 279.07 and 281.17, respectively.
Against Euro, the PKR gained 82.00 paisa for buying and 68.00 paisa for selling, closing at 302.54 and 305.50, respectively.
Against UAE Dirham, the PKR lost 11.00 paisa for both buying and selling, closing at 76.28 and 77.00, respectively.
Against Saudi Riyal, the PKR lost 6.00 paisa for buying and remained unchanged for selling, closing at 74.45 and 75.07, respectively.
=========================================
THE RUPEE
=========================================
Weekly inter-bank market rates for dollar
=========================================
Bid Close Rs. 279.59
Offer Close Rs. 279.79
Bid Open Rs. 279.90
Offer Open Rs.280.10
=========================================
Weekly inter-bank market rates for dollar
=========================================
Bid Close Rs. 279.07
Offer Close Rs. 281.17
Bid Open Rs. 278.82
Offer Open Rs. 280.98
=========================================
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.