KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan released its Mark-to-Market Currency Rates report for 13 August 2026, and following its steady state over the previous two sessions, the Pakistani Rupee (PKR) has depreciated slightly against the dollar.
The US dollar stands at 277.6522 in the ready market (down from 277.6715 on August 11), or a roughly 2 paisa loss for the rupee; the Saudi Riyal has moved from 73.9511 to 73.9499; Dirham from 75.6062 to 75.5989; while the Canadian Dollar has lost around 18 paisas from 199.1904 to 199.0125. The Pound sterling (GBP) stands at 374.2613, down from 374.8704 – or a loss of about 60p to families holding sterling exposure.
The forward curve continues to promise slow rupee depreciation. The 1 month dollar forward is priced at 279.2806 suggesting markets expect about 63 paisas of weakness in 30 days time and the same steady upward trajectory as July to continue with 3 month (281.9594) and 6 months (284.6037) forward indicating roughly 2.6 and 5.2% annualized rupee depreciation respectively.
The changes in Riyal and Dirham rates will mean nothing for remittance-receiving families in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Kashmir. A worker sending 1,000 Riyals will still receive roughly 73,950 rupees, the same as they did on August 11; while 1,000 Dirhams will still fetch approximately 75,599 rupees, difference of a bare 7 rupees. The magnitude of these currency movements simply does not alter family budgets and for the millions of Pakistani families reliant on remittances from the Gulf, this mid-August represents no change of pace from July’s predictability – we are now in our 39th session with the dollar-rupee crossing within a 46 paisa band.
The pullback in the British Pound to 374.26 offers breathing room to students at British universities, families funding medical expenses in London and to businesses importing British machinery. The dollar Sterling one-year forward sits at 393.3449 suggesting a 5.1 percent depreciation for the rupee against Sterling and for families, while the amount in rupees has fallen from roughly 5.62 million dollars for tuition payments to around 5.61 million a day, and for families paying 15,000 sterling per year, this now presents roughly a 60k saving.
The drop in the Canadian dollar to 199.01 has provided little relief with Pakistani buyers of Canadian pulses, lentils and machinery still looking at the steep dollar invoice while the one year CAD forward at 212.5483 indicates continued pressure with greater dollar depreciation than against the dollar.
The short end dollar forwards remain tight at the interbank level- 1 week forward at 278.0332 (38p above spot) and 2 week forward at 278.3724 (72p above spot) signals markets aren’t anticipating shocks and combined with the tight supply and high interest rates of 11.50% they will continue to provide a backstop against volatile movements, while reserves look to provide a stronger backstop to the rupee against further depreciation.
The Gulf currencies – Saudi Riyal, UAE Dirham, Bahraini Dinar and Omani Riyal – follow the US Dollar because they are pegged, and at 77.6348 (SAR forward), 79.5713 (AED forward), 771.1444 (BHD forward) and 758.6463 (OMR forward respectively) one-year forwards indicate no independent movements from their US Dollar pegged values. This offers stability to Pakistani labour exporters and energy importers but no independent boost or cost reduction, respectively from either direction.
From the remaining crosses: the yen at 1.7421 offers respite to Pakistani auto manufacturers importing Japanese components, although the one-year forward of 1.8838 is less optimistic than spot. Textile exporters to Europe have the euro at 319.9803 where the one-year is sitting at 341.3060, suggesting a 6.7 percent depreciation over the next year, and the Swiss Franc at 341.5367; Australian Dollar at 195.6615, Singapore Dollar at 216.8057, Omani Riyal at 758.6463 and Kuwaiti Dinar at 903.6688 all seem to be reflecting home currencies’ respective strength, while theTurkish Lira at 5.8117 continues to slide relatively faster than the dollar-rupee crossing, with 1 year onward at 4.5143 giving textile exporters a pricing edge over competitors. The Indian Rupee at 2.9096 and Chinese Yuan at 41.1623 also round off the most significant crosses: with CNY one year forward priced at 44.4793 suggesting rising import costs from China.
The most remarkable aspect of the dollar-rupee over the past nearly two months, however, has been the remarkable lack of movement in the spot price, with the US Dollar only ranging between 277.65 and 278.11, or a movement within 46 paisa.