Rupee recovers 12 paisas against dollar on firm oil prices

KARACHI: The rupee recovered 12 paisas against the dollar on Friday owing to an ease in oil prices in the international markets.

The exchange rate ended at Rs178.51 to the dollar from the previous day’s closing of Rs178.63 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

The local currency recovered to the current level from the record low of Rs178.63 on March 10, 2022.

The dealers said that the ease in the international oil prices helped the rupee recover against the greenback. The benchmark Brent Oil was trading at $111 per barrel at 3:30pm PST. The international oil prices have touched around $140 per barrel during the Russia-Ukraine war which started on February 24, 2022.

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

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.

Besides, the oil price phenomenon the rupee was also under pressure due to the import payments related to the holy month of Ramazan.

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

The dealers hoped that the remittances related to Ramazan and Eid festival would support the rupee in the coming days.

The local currency remained under pressure since the start of the current fiscal year. The rupee lost Rs20.97 or 13.31 per cent from Rs157.54 to dollar on June 30, 2021 to the current level of Rs178.51.

At the open market, the buying and selling was recorded at Rs178.75 and Rs179.80 at 3:45pm PST.