Rupee continues making historic low against dollar

KARACHI: The rupee lost 68 paisas to make a fresh historic low of Rs181.25 against the dollar on Monday, dealers said.

The exchange rate ended at Rs181.25 against the greenback from Friday’s closing of Rs180.75 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

The dealers said the political instability in the country, highly volatile global oil prices due to the geopolitical situation, amid Russia-Ukraine war and higher commodity import payments is keeping the local currency under pressure.

The no-confidence motion against the prime minister by the opposition parties resulted in negative sentiments in the market, they said, adding that the increasing demand for the dollars is also being witnessed due to the import of commodities related to the holy month of Ramazan.

The local forex market is also uncertain due to the volatile oil prices in the international market. The oil prices have seen continuous fluctuation since the Russia-Ukraine war began on February 24, 2022. The benchmark Brent oil was trading at around $112/barrel on Monday.

Pakistan is a net importer of petroleum products and changes in the prices directly affects the oil import bill of the country.

The import of petroleum products recorded over 100 per cent increase to $12.94 billion during the first eight months (July-February) 2021/22, compared with Rs6.44 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.

The local currency remained under pressure since the start of the current fiscal year. It lost Rs23.71, or 15.05 per cent, from Rs157.54 against the dollar on June 30, 2021 to the current level of Rs181.25.

At the open market, the buying and selling of the dollar was recorded at Rs181 and Rs182.5 at 4:30pm PST.