Rupee drops by 62 paise in interbank
The rupee continued to lose against the dollar for the second consecutive session on Thursday, dropping by 62 paisa in the interbank market.
By 12:40 p.m., the local currency was exchanged at Rs 215.5 per dollar, an impairment of 0.28%.
Saad bin Naseer, Director of Mettis Global, a web portal for financial data and analysis said exporters were pressing to maintain the dollar value at Rs215, which is why the rupee had fallen.
The rate differential between the interbank market and the free market had also come to an end, he said.
Naseer said it seemed to be an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to keep the rupee’s value at its current level. However, he added that if imports continue to decline and exports increase, the value of the rupee could increase significantly.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Foreign Exchange Association Secretary General Zafar Paracha stated that the rupee was under pressure due to the delay in the release of the loan tranche by the IMF.
“It is anticipated that the dollar will decline once the tranche is received on August 29. If the interest rate is raised at the State Bank of Pakistan’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting on August 24, that could put pressure on the value of the rupee and reduce it.
“Otherwise, the value of the dollar is likely to fall in the next few days,” he added.