August 30, 2022 (MLN): Powered by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s approval for the seventh and eighth tranche of $1.17 billion, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) on Tuesday appreciated by 1.8 rupees against the US Dollar (USD) in an interbank market to close the session at PKR 220.12 per USD.
Yesterday, the domestic unit settled at PKR 221.92 per USD.
During the session, the rupee traded in a range of 2.9 rupees per USD showing an intraday high bid of 221.90 and an intraday low offer of 220. While in the open market, PKR was traded at 220/222 per USD.
IMF’s Executive Board approved the seventh and eighth tranche of its stalled Extended Fund Facility (EFF) as per which Pakistan will soon receive $1.17 billion, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue informed on Monday.
The board’s decision allowed for an immediate disbursement of the aforesaid amount, bringing total purchases for budget support under the arrangement to about $3.9bn.
Speaking to Mettis Global, the President of Exchange Companies Association Zafar Paracha stated that the rupee’s appreciation might go up to PKR 200 per USD in the upcoming months owing to IMF loan disbursement and expected funds from other friendly countries.
“If the country does not suffer any unprecedented event in near future, the rupee might appreciate more rapidly.”
Further, he emphasized that the government’s focus now should be on economic relief for the public since the Finance Minister’s aim was to save the country from default, he added.
“The immature measures like increase in electricity bills which later had to be withdrawn lead to chaos and create more mayhem among masses,” he noted.
Regarding the flash floods, Zafar Paracha said that every country boosts its climate preparedness to fight against natural disasters given the weather events but sadly Pakistani governments have failed in building infrastructure and dams in the country.
He further said that trade with neighboring countries is a positive step and the government should take every possible step needed to recover from the crisis.
Speaking of materializing the funds he said that the funds from the international community and organizations should be delivered straight to the affectees in this catastrophic situation, sadly highlighting that in the past, several cases were reported about funds being used for other means.
Meanwhile, the currency gained 27 paisa or 0.10% against the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 258.51 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 258.78 per GBP. The local unit appreciated against CHF, JPY, SAR, AED and CNY by 0.73%, 0.44%, 0.84%, 0.81%, and 0.55%, respectively.
On the other hand, PKR's value weakened by 47 paisa or 0.21% against EUR which closed at PKR 220.75 at the interbank today.
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In FYTD, PKR lost 15.27 rupees or 6.94%, while it plummeted by 43.6 rupees or 19.8% against the USD in CYTD, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.
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During the last 52 weeks, PKR lost 24.4% against the greenback while reaching its lowest at 239.94 on July 28, 2022, and the highest at 166.36 on August 31, 2021.
Furthermore, the local unit has weakened by 12.23% against EUR when it was highest on March 07, 22, while the rupee fell by 11.36% against GBP since its high on August 30, 2021.
On another note, within the money market, the overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 15.10/15.30 percent, whereas the 1-week rate was 15.15/15.25 percent.
Copyright Mettis Link News
Posted on:2022-08-30T16:22:50+05:00
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