Rupee falls for third straight day

KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee continued its fall for the third straight day against the dollar as the global crude oil prices rose.

The rupee declined 26 paisas to end at Rs176.98 against the dollar on Wednesday, against the closing of Rs176.72 on Tuesday in the interbank foreign exchange market.

The dealers said that the dollar demand shot up due to the rise in the international oil prices. The benchmark Brent oil was trading at $87.80 per barrel during the day on Wednesday.

Pakistan is the net importer of petroleum products to meet domestic energy demands. The country’s oil bill sharply increased by 113.39 per cent to $10.18 billion during the first half (July-December) 2021/22, as compared with $4.77 billion in the corresponding half of the last fiscal year.

The market was optimistic about the rupee’s stability in the coming days due to the import restrictions introduced through the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2021, dealers said.

But the latest escalation in dollar demand due to the rising international oil prices, offset the measures taken by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) regarding restrictions on realising export receipts.

The central bank on January 5, 2022 directed the exporters to materialise their export receipts within 120 days instead of the previous 150 days.

The rising oil prices may weaken the rupee value in the coming days, as Pakistan is the net importer of petroleum products to meet domestic energy demands.

The local currency remained under pressure since the start of the current fiscal year due to higher external payments. The rupee fell Rs19.44, or 12.33 per cent, from Rs157.54 to the dollar on June 30, 2021 to Rs176.98 on January 26, 2022.

The rupee hit an all-time low of Rs178.24 on December 29, 2021.

In the open market, the buying and selling of the dollar was recorded at Rs178/Rs179.5 at 3:30pm PST.

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