Falling rupee playing havoc with economy, says Zubair

LAHORE: Former Sindh governor Mohammad Zubair warned that the falling rupee is causing havoc in the economy as it is leading to inflation and increasing the national debt.

“The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has pumped in $1.2 billion in the open market since June this year to stabilise the falling value of rupee. Even after this intervention, the rupee has continued to fall from Rs152 in May to around Rs170 now against the dollar,” Zubair told Bol News.

The PML-N leader added that in the last three years, the central bank has pumped in $5.8 billion in the open market and failed to stabilise the falling currency.

“In spite of this massive injection, the rupee has lost more in these three years than in any other three-year period,” he maintained.

Zubair said the government has continued to deny that they have been intervening in the open market to stabilise the rupee.

“They used to accuse us (PML-N) of pumping dollars in the open market to stabilise the rupee. At least we were successful in doing that. They have massively failed,” he said.

Rupee hits record low against dollar

The rupee fell to an all-time low of Rs168.94 against the dollar on Tuesday after witnessing a huge demand for external payments, dealers said.

The exchange rate ended at Rs168.94 against the dollar from the previous day’s closing of Rs168.10 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

The previous all-time low of the rupee against the dollar was recorded at Rs168.44 on August 26, 2020.

The dealers said the market witnessed massive demand for import and corporate payments.

The local unit lost around 84 paisas against the dollar from the previous day’s closing of Rs168.10 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

The local currency has lost around Rs11.4 against the greenback during this fiscal year when the exchange rate closed at Rs157.54 on June 30, 2021.