The Pakistani rupee on Friday plummeted again, setting the sixth all-time low of 177.71 against the US dollar.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the dollar opened at Rs177.61 in the interbank market and closed at Rs177.71, shedding 10 paisas (-0.06 percent). Within the open market, the rupee was traded at 179/180 per dollar.
Earlier, the dollar hit the then highest ever levels of Rs177.61 on December 9, Rs177.43 on December 8, Rs176.79 on December 7, Rs176.77 on December 3 and Rs176.42 on December 2.
Overall, the local currency shed 94 paisas against the greenback during the last five days. The rupee’s depreciation during the ongoing fiscal year 2021-22 (FY22) has been Rs20.29 and Rs17.56 in the current year, 2021.
The rupee is under the pressure of soaring import bill which needs to be curtailed immediately as the depleting foreign exchange reserves will hardly cover the bill for around three months if it continues to report around the same figures.
Official data revealed that Pakistan’s trade deficit ballooned by 112 percent to $20.59 billion during the first five months (July-October) of the current fiscal year 2021-22. The trade deficit was at $9.72 billion in the same months of the last fiscal year.
The import bill surged by 69.17 percent to $32.934 billion during July–November 2021-22 as compared to $19.468 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
