From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee continued its upward trajectory on Thursday and was being traded at Rs226.19 against the US dollar in the interbank market.
The rupee on Wednesday made an all-time high recovery of Rs9.98 in a single day and closed at a three-week high of Rs228.80 against the US dollar.
Experts said the rupee saw its first major recovery after a gap of over three months after the government had reported a massive drop in import payments. In addition, they added, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had also acknowledged Pakistan meeting all the prerequisite conditions for its multibillion-dollar programme.
Finance Minister Miftah Ismail had stated that the IMF Executive Board was scheduled to meet on August 24, and it would consider giving final approval for the resumption of the programme. The approval would be followed by the receipt of the next loan tranche of $1.2 billion.
Thursday, the local currency gained Rs2.61 against the greenback. An increased supply of the USD in the local market has also helped the rupee to appreciate against the greenback.
With positive news from the IMF, experts are of the opinion that only a $4 billion shortfall remains for this year, and once that is arranged with the assistance of friendly countries, the local currency would be in a better position.
A positive trend was also noticed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange, with the KSE-100 index increasing to the 41,500 point level – an increase of 474 points.
Pakistan Euro-Bond yields have also fallen by 150-400 basis points on 2024 and 2025 bonds. They were presently trading at around 41.9% and 30.1%, respectively.
Earlier, the domestic currency had slumped a cumulative 13.75% (or Rs31.31) in the prior 10 consecutive working days to all-time low closing at Rs239.94 on Thursday (July 28).
