Rupee hits record low of Rs178.04 against dollar

KARACHI: The rupee fell to a record low of Rs178.04 against the dollar at the interbank foreign exchange market on Friday, dealers said.

The demand for the dollars for import and corporate payments remained high during the day, they said.

The exchange rate recorded a decline of six paisas against the greenback from the previous day’s closing of Rs177.98, which was the previous record low of the local currency.

The dealers said the dollar demand is usually high by the close of a calendar year. They said foreign entities operating in Pakistan send their profits and dividends to their parent companies abroad by the end of the quarter.

Further, higher international commodity prices kept the demand for the dollar.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on December 14, 2021 announced a monetary statement and increased the key policy rate by 100 basis points to 9.75 per cent. The SBP increased the policy rate by 250 basis points in less than a month to support the local currency by reducing the demand.

However, the free-fall in the rupee still continues and the local currency is making record lows with each passing day.

The Saudi Fund for Development placed a $3 billion deposit with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) earlier this month; however, the latest foreign exchange numbers revealed that the reserves recorded a decline of $123 million to $25.028 billion by the week ended December 10, 2021.

The official reserves of the central bank fell $90 million to $18.568 billion by the week ended December 10, 2021, compared with $18.658 billion a week ago.

The dealers said unabated rise in the import payments kept the rupee under pressure. The import bill of the country surged 69.17 per cent to $33 billion during the first five months (July-November) 2021/22, compared with $19.47 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.

The rupee remained under pressure since the start of the current fiscal year. The local currency fell Rs20.50, or 13.01 per cent, from June 30, 2021 closing of Rs157.54 to the closing of Rs178.04 on December 17, 2021.

However, in the open market, the buying and selling of the dollar was recorded at Rs180.50/Rs181.80 at 3:35pm PST.

Also Read

Dollar remains unchanged at Rs177.98

KARACHI: The exchange rate ended unchanged on Thursday, as the dollar maintained...