Rupee recovers 9 paisas against dollar

KARACHI: The rupee finally recovered nine paisas against the dollar on Thursday after touching 171 in the intraday trading, as the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) introduced more restrictions to curb outflows of foreign currency.

The exchange rate ended at Rs170.87 against the dollar from the previous day’s closing of Rs170.96 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

The rupee witnessed a continuous decline against the greenback. The local unit hit an all-time low of Rs170.96 to the dollar on Wednesday.

The central bank took various measures during the last couple of weeks. In its latest measures, it allowed the people travelling to Afghanistan to carry just $1,000/person/visit with the maximum annual limit of $6,000.

The SBP also made it mandatory for the exchange companies to undertake biometric verification for foreign currency sale or purchase transactions above $500.

Despite these measures, the local currency remained under pressure during the day.

The dealers said the measures taken by the SBP and some inflows of home remittances and export receipts helped the rupee make recovery by the end of the trading session.