March 29, 2023 (MLN): Pakistani rupee (PKR) rejoined its downward trail on the back of increasing economic uncertainty wherein IMF's rejection of the fuel subsidy plan added fuel to the fire.
The local unit has depreciated by 36 paisa against the US dollar in today's interbank session as the currency settled the trade at PKR 283.92 per USD compared to yesterday's closing of PKR 283.55 per USD.
Throughout today’s session, the local unit traded in a band of 90 paisa, showing an intraday high bid of 284 and low offer of 283.40 while in the open market, PKR was traded at 283/286 per USD.
In a recent development, the IMF asked the government to submit the complete plan for petrol subsidy as the fund has rejected the initial version of the proposal for the subsidy, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Ishaq Dar said.
To recall, on March 20, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a relief package for the poor which includes a subsidy of Rs50 per litre of petrol for low-income individuals who own small vehicles such as motorcycles, rickshaws, and 800cc cars.
However, right after this announcement, Esther Perez Ruiz, the IMF's resident representative in Pakistan said that the government did not consult with the fund about the fuel pricing scheme.
Meanwhile, the currency lost 56 paisa to the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 349.9 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 349.34 per GBP.
Similarly, PKR's value weakened by 45 paisa against EUR which closed at PKR 307.51 at the interbank today.
In FYTD, PKR lost 79.06 rupees or 27.85%, while it plummeted by 57.48 rupees or 20.25% against the USD in CYTD. On the other hand, within the last seven sessions, the local unit moved down by 0.25%, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.
On another note, within the money market, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) conducted an Open Market Operation (OMO) in which it mopped up a total of Rs803.9 billion from the market.
The overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 19.50/19.75%, whereas the 1-week rate was 19.75%/19.85%.
Copyright Mettis Link News
Posted on:2023-03-29T15:08:03+05:00
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