The Pakistani rupee was unmoved against the US dollar in the open market on Thursday, while the local currency crawled upward in the inter-bank market.

During the day, currency dealers Business Recorder reached out to said the rupee was being quoted at 284.50 for selling and 281.50 for buying purposes for customers, unchanged from the previous close.

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

In the inter-bank market, the rupee registered gains for the third consecutive session against the US dollar as it appreciated 0.04% on Thursday. As per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the local unit settled at 283.51 after an increase of Re0.10 against the greenback.

Despite a decline in the foreign exchange reserves, the market remains confident amid an expected release of funds by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) next month, said experts.

In November, Pakistan and the IMF reached staff-level agreement (SLA) on the first review of the country’s nine-month SBA, which was approved by the IMF Executive Board in July 2023.

As per a report, the IMF’s executive board will meet on January 11 to consider the loan programme with Pakistan.

“We expect board approval of the recent SLA to be unproblematic,” Fitch Ratings had said in a report on Wednesday.

It said that the successful programme review reflects continued fiscal consolidation, energy price reforms in the face of a public backlash, and moves towards a more market-determined exchange rate regime.

The credit rating agency noted that a crackdown on the black market helped narrow the gap between the parallel (kerb) and interbank exchange rates and brought more FX into the banking system.