The Pakistani rupee on Friday reached an all-time low against the US dollar, slumping to to Rs176 in the interbank market in intraday trading.
In the open market, meanwhile, the dollar rose by Rs1.70 and was being traded at Rs178.
On Thursday, the PKR had dropped to 174.19 against the USD. Earlier on October 27, the dollar had crossed the Rs175 mark to set a new record.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the PKR closed at 175.73 against the USD after a day-on-day depreciation of Rs1.54 or 0.88 per cent.
Interbank closing #ExchangeRate for today:https://t.co/GvctANz3jH pic.twitter.com/K953ntLpQH
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) November 12, 2021
A report by Dawn while quoting Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP) Chairman Zafar Paracha states that although the dollar had depreciated to Rs169.50 after Saudi Arabia revived financial support and oil supplies to Pakistan, “the statement from PM’s Adviser on Finance Shaukat Tarin predicting a further rise in the dollar’s value provided space to speculators and they manipulated the market.
He said only an intervention from the central bank could contain the skyrocketing value of the greenback and demanded action against banks allegedly involved in the dollar speculation.
The rupee has lost nearly 10pc of its value against the US dollar from the beginning of the calendar year to date, but almost 14pc since its recent high achieved on May 7.
