Rupee hits new low of Rs179.22 against dollar

KARACHI: The rupee continued to make historic lows against the dollar, as it fell to Rs179.22 on Tuesday, owing to import payments and political uncertainty, dealers said.

The exchange rate ended at Rs179.22 against the greenback from the last day’s closing of Rs178.98, the previous all-time low, in the interbank foreign exchange market.

The dealers said the political uncertainty was increasing day-by-day, owing to the no-confidence motion moved by the opposition against the prime minister.

The dollar appreciation against other regional currencies was also a reason for the rupee decline, they said.

Further, the dollar demand was also mounting due to import of commodities related to the holy month of Ramazan.

The local forex market is also uncertain due to volatile oil prices in the international markets. The oil prices have seen continuous fluctuation since the Russia-Ukraine war began on February 24, 2022.

The benchmark Brent crude had hit around $140/barrel a few days ago. However, it was trading at $105/barrel at 3:55pm PST.

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

The import bill of the petroleum group recorded an increase of 107 per cent to $11.7 billion during the first seven months of the current fiscal year, compared with $5.64 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.

Further, the fall in the foreign exchange reserves also put pressure on the rupee value. The liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country slipped $206 million to $22.669 billion by the week ended March 4, 2022 as against $22.875 billion a week ago.

The local currency remained under pressure since the start of the current fiscal year. It lost Rs21.68, or 13.76 per cent, from Rs157.54 to the dollar on June 30, 2021 to the current level of Rs179.22.