Rupee continues downward trend, falls by Rs3.05 in interbank - Business

The rupee, which has been declining for nearly a week, fell by Rs3.05 against the dollar during early trade in the interbank market on Friday. By 10:56am, the PKR was being traded at Rs228.5 per dollar after depreciating 1.35 per cent from yesterday’s close, data shared by the Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP) showed. Mettis Global Director Saad bin Naseer said the exchange rate was under pressure because of payments and a demand-and-supply gap. He added that the system would remain under pressure due to quarter-end payments. “Some oil payments were made this week. Besides this, the gap in [rates] between the interbank and open markets had widened significantly due to which bankers gradually increased the dollar rates.” However, there was no panic in the interbank market today and the greenback was available, he said. Naseer suggested that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) introduce a new scheme such as the Roshan Digital Account (RDA) to attract dollar inflows. “The momentum [of dollar inflows] has slowed because the RDA rates have not been changed compared to the US Treasury bonds,” he commented. The PKR has lost Rs6.82 from Sept 2-8, with the dollar becoming expensive by Rs4 in the last two days alone. According to financial data and analytics portal Mettis Global, the local currency lost 25.62pc of its value against the greenback during the last 52 weeks.

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