Pakistan Hits All-time Low Against US Dollar

The rupee is being traded at Rs194 during intraday trading in the interbank market, down Rs1.47 from Friday’s 192.53.

KARACHI: (UrduPoint/Pakisatan Point News-May 16th, 2022) The Pakistani rupee hit all-time low against the Dollar on Monday.

The rupee is being traded at Rs194 during intraday trading in the interbank market, down Rs1.47 from Friday’s 192.53.

The local Currency surpassed the critical threshold of 194 for the first time in the history of Pakistan. The rupee has declined by nearly Rs7 against the greenback in the last month.

The Pakistani rupee continued to fall because the US dollar is gaining strength against other major global currencies for the past few days.

The uncertain economic situation is one of the reasons behind the decline of the rupee. Delay in decision making and a stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme are the other factors.

The market reacted negatively to the government’s decision to keep prices of petroleum products unchanged, Arif Habib Limited Head of Research Tahir Abbas said while speaking to Geo.

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“The decision taken by the government last night to maintain prices triggered the uncertain environment or the investors,” he said, explaining that the investors are now concerned regarding the revival of the IMF programme.

Pakistan and IMF commission are scheduled to begin talks regarding the stalled programme from May 18 in Doha. Success of talks with the Fund was conditioned on the removal of subsidies provided by the Pakistani government on petroleum products.

The analyst further said panic selling is also seen due to shortage of Dollars and depleting foreign exchange reserves.

Despite Finance Minister Miftah Ismail’s assurance to stabilise the rupee-dollar parity and foreign exchange reserves, investors fear that if IMF programme remains in jeopardy support from friendly countries will also remain a mystery.