KARACHI: The rupee fell slightly against the dollar on Tuesday but made a new historic low of Rs178.05 at the closing of the interbank foreign exchange market, dealers said.
The exchange rate witnessed an ease of one paisa in the rupee value against the dollar from the previous day’s closing of Rs178.04, which was also the previous historic low of the local currency.
The dealers said the dollar demand for import and corporate payments remained high during the day. However, some inflows of remittances and export receipts helped the local unit avoid significant losses.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on December 19, 2021 imposed restrictions on foreign exchange buying by individuals from the open market to discourage speculative gains.
The measures supported the rupee during the last two days. However, latest numbers of the current account deficit threatened the rupee stability in the days to come.
Pakistan’s current account deficit has ballooned to $7 billion during the first five months (July-November) 2021/22. The current account posted a surplus of $1.87 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year, according to the balance of payments data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday, December 20, 2021.
The widening of the current account deficit was due to sharp rise in the import bill, which grew 69.57 per cent to $33 billion during the first five months of the current fiscal year, compared with $19.46 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, according to the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
The trade deficit widened 112 per cent to $20.65 billion during the period under review, compared with the deficit of $9.72 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
The rupee remained under pressure since the start of the current fiscal year. The local currency fell Rs20.51, or 13.02 per cent, from June 30, 2021 closing of Rs157.54 to the closing of Rs178.05 on December 21, 2021.
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