KARACHI: The depreciation in the rupee value continued against the dollar on Friday and the local unit is heading towards an all-time low against the foreign currency.

The exchange rate ended at Rs168.02 against the greenback, as against the previous day’s closing of Rs167.66 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

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

The currency dealers said external payment remained high, which resulted in increased dollar demand. They said the demand for the dollar was also high due to the upcoming weekly holidays.

The dealers said the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued the figures of workers remittances earlier in the day.

The SBP said the inflows of workers remittances increased to $5.36 billion during the first two months of the current fiscal year.

The central bank also said that the workers’ remittances continued their strong trend, reaching $2.66 billion in August 2021.

“This is the sixth consecutive month when inflows recorded around $2.7 billion on an average, and the 15th consecutive month they have been above $2 billion.”

The dealers said the dollar demand was also high due to the conflict in the neighbouring country. The US has blocked dollar funds of Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country.

This situation has created a shortage of the foreign currency in the country. This also led to smuggling of the foreign currency from Pakistan to the neighbouring country.

Pakistan has decided to trade with Afghanistan in the rupee. However, this decision is yet to make any impact on the exchange rate.