KARACHI: The dollar recorded another high of 177.89 against the rupee at the closing of the interbank foreign exchange market on Monday, dealers said.

The exchange rate witnessed an 18 paisas decline in the rupee value to end at Rs177.89 against the dollar from the last trading day’s closing of Rs177.71, the previous record low of the local currency, in the interbank foreign exchange market.

The dealers said the rising import bill of the country is widening the trade deficit, resulting in the depreciation of the local currency. Pakistan received $3 billion deposit from Saudi Development Fund (SDF) to manage the balance of payments position but it has not done much to support the local currency.

The higher commodity prices in the international markets and the rising domestic demand push up the demand for the dollars for import payments, they said.

The import bill sharply increased 69.17 per cent to $32.93 billion during the first five months (July-November) 2021/22, compared with $19.47 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.

The foreign exchange reserves of the country grew to $25.15 billion by the week ended December 3, 2021, compared with $22.499 billion a week ago, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said.

The rising import bill widened the trade deficit massively. The trade deficit ballooned 112 per cent to $20.59 billion during the first five months of the current fiscal year, compared with the deficit of $9.72 billion.

However, in the open market, the buying and selling of the dollar was recorded at Rs179 and Rs180.5 at 3:45PM PST.

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