Rupee slides to historic low for 7th straight day

KARACHI: The rupee continued to slide for the seventh consecutive trading session on Tuesday making a fresh historic low of Rs181.73 against the dollar.

The rupee ended Rs181.73 to the dollar from the previous day’s closing of Rs181.25 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

The local unit fell by Rs3.22 or 1.80 per cent during the past seven trading sessions.

The dealers said that the rupee remained under pressure due to the political uncertainty, external payment demand and volatile international oil prices.

The no-confidence motion against the prime minister by the opposition parties had resulted in negative sentiments in the market, coupled with the increasing dollar demand due to 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 markets. The oil prices have seen continuous fluctuation since the Russia-Ukraine war which began on February 24, 2022.

The dealers said that the decline in the foreign exchange reserves is another reason behind rupee depreciation.

The local currency remained under pressure since the start of the current fiscal year. The rupee lost Rs24.19 or 15.35 per cent from Rs157.54 to dollar on June 30, 2021 to the current level of Rs181.73.

At the open market, the buying and selling of the dollar was recorded at Rs181.4 and Rs182.8 at 3:30pm PST.