Web Desk (LTN NEWS): Wednesday morning activity in the interbank market saw the PKR drop by 74 paise, bringing it dangerously close to an all-time low against the dollar.
The Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP) said that the exchange rate for the dollar was Rs239.75 at 12:13 PM today, down 0.35 percent from yesterday’s close of Rs238.91. On July 28th, the value of the rupee against the dollar dropped to an all-time low of 239.94.
Tresmark’s head of research, Komal Mansoor, said the government was “paralyzed by inertia even though we are now in an IMF (International Monetary Fund) plan and can attract forex.”
She argued that there are numerous potential advantages to intervening in a market as illiquid as Pakistan’s.
In comparison to the US dollar, the Pakistani rupee has depreciated by almost 26% this year alone (CY22).
Over the past 12 trading sessions, the dollar has strengthened by 8.12 percent versus the rupee. It has strengthened by 36 percent since the CY21 high on May 14 and by 13.9 percent since the beginning of the current fiscal year (FY23).
Read PKR drops by 96 paise against Dollar
The government has not been successful in securing any new inflows of U.S. dollars to replenish the country’s dwindling foreign exchange reserves. In spite of the $1.2 billion infusion from the IMF loan, other creditors did not adopt the Fund’s stimulus plan
