ISLAMABAD: The unbridled flight of dollar ended today as the greenback crashed and its value fell significantly on Friday, a day after the Supreme Court restored the National Assembly and ordered to hold no-trust move tomorrow (April 9).
On Friday noon, the dollar-rupee exchange rate has dropped to 185.50 rupees in the interbank as against 188.20 rupees on Thursday.
Pakistani currency is expected to gain more strength in the coming days after political uncertainty vanishes in the wake of no-confidence voting being held tomorrow (April 9).
Analysts said the Pakistani rupee rebounded in early morning trade on Friday, appreciating by 1.60 rupees against the US dollar in the inter-bank market due to clarity on the political front after yesterday’s Supreme Court’s (SC) decision to restore National Assembly and hold no-confidence move on Saturday morning (April 9). Till noon, the value of rupee further edged up and dollar-rupee exchange rate fell to 185.50 rupees with further downslide in the glory of dollar.
The dollar was being quoted at 186.60 when compared to the previous close of Rs188.20 and record high value of 189 rupees in the inter-bank and 190 rupees in the open market. It is a common phenomenon that the price of dollar is kept high throughout the day and before closing, the dollar-rupee exchange rate is dropped to deceive people and the government.
After a long spell of depreciation, the domestic currency managed to break this streak despite falling in reserves by $1.07 billion or 5.8% WoW to the lowest level of $17.47bn since June 26, 2020, Mettis Global reported today.
This notable decline in reserves was mainly due to debt repayment and settlement of an arbitration award related to a mining project.
In its latest emergency meeting, the Monetary policy committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) hiked the policy rate by 250 basis points to 12.25% to counter the external shocks and inflationary
pressures. The committee stated that the amplified political unrest has resulted in the depreciation of the rupee against the greenback.
Speaking of this recent move of the central bank, Asad Rizvi, former treasury head-chase Manhattan bank said, “SBP hiking of rate by 250bp & imposition of cash margin on 177 products is a hint that the economy is in trouble and measures taken earlier was not supportive.”
