Rupee weakens to Rs159.90 against US dollar in interbank market
On Friday, the rupee lost its value by 30 paisa and closed at Rs158.79.
KARACHI (Dunya News) – The Pakistani rupee further depreciated by Rs1.11 against the US dollar on Monday and hit Rs159.90 in the interbank market.
In the open market, the greenback hit Rs160.50 after an increase of 75 paisa.
On Friday, the rupee lost its value by 30 paisa and closed at Rs158.79 against the greenback in the interbank market.
Despite after receiving the first tranche of $991.4 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Pakistani rupee has been observed to continue its downward trend against the US dollar.
The stringent conditions – on which the global moneylender has formally approved the bailout package of $6 billion for Pakistan – seem to have exerted more pressure on the local currency.
Economists are of the view that effective measures must be implemented on the priority basis to recover the state from the balance of payment deficit.
Besides increased demand of the greenback in the local market, they have termed ‘balance of payments deficit’ as the main reason in the recent hike in the value of the US dollar.
Moreover, they consider that state’s exports and investment are required to grow significantly, and the imports must be reduced to remove pressure on the local currency.
According to experts, the government must ensure implementations on economic policies after the deal with the IMF.
It is anticipated that the US dollar rate would fluctuate for some time, and the value of the Pakistani rupee would stabilise after proper implementation of the economic policies.
On the other hand, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) dived 663 points during the trade hours on Monday, and stood less than 33,008 points amid absence of positive triggers.
A fresh drop in rupee’s value also aided the market’s fall. Recently, Fitch Solutions revised Pakistan’s growth forecast to observe downward trajectory, which also seems to contribute to the decline.
