Rupee gains 16 paisas against dollar

KARACHI: The rupee gained 16 paisas against the dollar on Friday, amid demand for the foreign currency for import payments, dealers said.

The exchange rate ended at Rs174.71 against the greenback from the previous day’s closing of Rs174.87 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

The dealers said the rupee gained due to a fall in the international oil prices. The benchmark Brent crude fell to $90.83 after expected positive outcome of Iran-US talks and possible rate hike by the US Fed.

Pakistan is net importer of the petroleum products to meet its domestic demand. Any change in the international oil prices directly hit the oil import bill.

The oil import bill surged 113.40 per cent to $10.18 billion during the first half (July-December) 2021/22, compared with $4.77 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.

The rupee also made gains, owing to a significant increase in the foreign exchange reserves.

The total liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country increased $1.637 billion to $23.721 billion by the week ended February 4, 2022 as against $22.084 billion by the week ended January 28, 2022. The official foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan climbed $1.61 billion to $17.337 billion by the week ended February 4, 2022, compared with $15.727 billion a week ago.

The SBP attributed the rise to the inflows of $1.053 billion received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme and proceeds against Pakistan International Sukuk Bond issuance of $1 billion.

The rupee remained under pressure during the current year and hit an all-time low of Rs178.24 against the dollar on December 29, 2021.

The local currency fell Rs17.17, or 10.99 per cent, from June 30, 2021 closing of Rs157.54 to the closing of Rs174.71 on February 11, 2022.