The rise in the value of the US dollar versus the rupee continued on Friday, with the local currency losing 0.02 percent against the previous day due to increased demand from import payments.
On Friday, the US dollar reached an all-time high against the Pakistan rupee, finishing at Rs174 in the interbank market, up from Rs173.96 on Thursday.
For the previous five months, the rupee has been on a downward trend. It has dropped 14.27 percent (or Rs21.73) after reaching a 22-month high of Rs152.27 in May.
The rupee has depreciated by 10.44 percent (or Rs16.46) from the beginning of the current fiscal year on July 1, 2021, according to statistics issued by the central bank.
Pakistan’s current account deficit — $1.11 billion in September — and the International Monetary Fund’s desire for further depreciation of the rupee, according to economists, are the key reasons for the rise in the value of the US dollar and the depreciation of the rupee.
Since global commodity prices have more than quadrupled in recent months, brokerage firms have updated their predictions for the rupee-dollar parity to Rs176-178 by the end of June 2022, up from an earlier estimate of approximately Rs170.
Meanwhile, the central bank’s foreign exchange reserves fell by 8.6% on a weekly basis, according to figures issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).