Dollar soars due to IMF-related market speculations

LAHORE: The United States (US) dollar increased by Rs0.50 in the inter-bank market and Rs0.70 in open market on Friday, February 29.

On Friday afternoon, the US dollar stood at Rs142 in the open market.

Since the Imran Khan administered took office in 2018, it has failed to bring surety on the IMF front, with talks with the IMF still going on.

“Negotiations with International Monetary Fund (IMF) are underway and there are speculations in the market that the government will depreciate the rupee according to IMF’s conditions. Hence the price of US dollar has increased both in the inter-bank market and the open market,” says Samiullah Tariq, Director Research at Arif Habib.

“There is an increasing noise regarding IMF in due to which the dollar is increasing,” confirms Saad Hashmey, Chief Economist at Topline Securities.

“On the other hand there are continued concerns on the external front. Exports have failed to grow substantially,” he adds.