Rupee continues to fall on global oil price surge

KARACHI: The rupee fell 4 paisas against the dollar on Wednesday, owing to a surge in the price of the global crude oil market.

The rupee ended at Rs176.22 to the dollar, compared with the previous day’s closing of Rs176.18 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

The dealers said that panic buying for dollars continued for the second straight day due to a sharp increase in the global oil prices. The oil prices climbed up to $88.56 during the trading on Wednesday.

Earlier, on Tuesday a blast along the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil link in southern Turkey contributed to a rise in international crude oil prices to a seven-year high, while it continued its previous day’s momentum during today’s trading.

It is worth mentioning here that Pakistan is a net importer of petroleum products. The oil import bill of the country recorded an increase of 113.4 per cent to $10.18 billion during the first half (July – December) 2021/2022, as compared with $4.77 billion in the corresponding half of the last fiscal year.

The dealers said that the further rise in international oil prices would put pressure on exchange rates.

The rupee is already under immense pressure since the start of the current fiscal year due to large external payments. The rupee fell by Rs18.58 or 11.79 per cent from Rs157.54 to dollar on June 30, 2021 to the present level of Rs176.12.

The dollar recorded an all time high of Rs178.24 against the dollar on December 29, 2021. However, measures taken by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to restrict the transfer of export receipts within 120 days instead of 150 days helped the local unit to recover.

In the open market, buying and selling of dollars was recorded at Rs176.80/Rs178 at 3:45pm PST.