KARACHI: The rupee fell to the historic low at Rs178.61 to the dollar on Tuesday amid a surge in the commodity prices in the international market and rising domestic demand for the holy month of Ramazan.
The rupee previously witnessed the all-time low of Rs178.24 on December 29, 2021.
The exchange rate ended at Rs178.61 dollar from the previous day’s closing of Rs178.13 in the interbank foreign exchange market.
The dealers said that the dollar demand was seen from the importers due to Ramazan related commodity buying. The rising oil prices in the international market also depressed the rupee value, they added.
Pakistan’s oil import bill is linked with the international oil prices and any surge in the oil prices result in high import bill and depreciation in the local currency.
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.
The dealers said that the rise in the import bill will also widen the current account deficit. The country’s current account deficit (CAD) surged to its highest ever monthly deficit of $2.6 billion in January 2022 ($1.9 billion in December 2021) taking CAD to $11.6 billion during the first seven months of the current fiscal year.
The local unit recorded a decline of Rs21.07 or 13.37 per cent from Rs157.54 on June 30, 2021 to the present level of Rs178.61.
At the open market, the buying and selling of the dollar was recorded at Rs178.3 and Rs179.5 at 4:30pm PST.
