The Pakistani rupee ended weaker against the US dollar in the open market for the second session on Monday, while the local currency also dipped in the inter-bank market.

During the day, currency dealers Business Recorder reached out to said the rupee was quoted at 281 for selling and 278 for buying purposes for customers.

At the end of trading, the currency closed at the same rates, according to data provided by the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP).

On Friday, the rupee had closed at 280.50 for selling and 277.50 for buying purposes.

During the previous week, the PKR lost 3.50 rupees for both buying and selling against USD, closing at 277.50 and 280.50, respectively.

Meanwhile, the rupee closed at 279.12 level against the greenback in the inter-bank market on Monday.

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).

The Pakistani authorities are expected to meet the IMF on the upcoming review of the $3- billion loan programme in November. A favourable review by the Washington-based will pave the way for release of the second tranche and funding from other multilateral partners.

The rupee recently saw one of the longest appreciation runs against the US dollar, which came after the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) announced a list of “structural reforms” last month, targeting the Exchange Companies (ECs).

To date, the central bank suspended the authorisation of nine exchange companies for noncompliance of rules and regulations and serious violations. Meanwhile, a number of commercial banks have announced to establish wholly-owned ECs.

Apart from the central bank measures, the caretaker setup also ramped up efforts against smugglers and hoarders of currency and as a result, countrywide raids were reported with dozens of illegal currency exchanges barred from running operations and foreign currency worth millions confiscated.