Rupee sheds Rs1.36 against US dollar
Business
Rupee sheds Rs1.36 against US dollar
KARACHI (Web Desk) – The Pakistani rupee on Monday dropped by Rs1.35 against the US dollar during interbank trade, adding to its losses from the previous week.
The local currency closed at Rs297.13, rising by Rs1.35 from the last week’s close of Rs295.78, according to data shared by the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP).
The dollar was changing hands for Rs307 in the open market.
Alpha Beta Core Chief Executive Khurram Schehzad said imports were opening up gradually and letters of credit (LCs) were being retired. Oil was also going up in the international markets and besides, we are required to repay foreign debt as well, he said.
Tresmark’s Head of Strategy Komal Mansoor said rupee depreciation was a “common outcome” of caretaker set-up.
It is more so exacerbated now because of the current account deficit and payment of import backlog, she said, adding that the market was bracing for the local currency to cross Rs300 against the greenback.
Currency dealer and ECAP secretary general Zafar Paracha said the week had commenced with pressure on the rupee and predicted that a similar situation would persist in the near future.
He accused the losses on “mafias of speculation and manipulation”.
Paracha reiterated Pakistan was moving away from reality and the country had been left at the mercy of these mafias.
Referring to the restriction on the sale and purchase of foreign exchange for the public, he said it seemed as if a “grey market” had been “deliberately developed, facilitated and promoted”.
