Rupee gains strength as dollar slides by Rs1 in a week

KARACHI: Rupee continued to gain strength in the open market and inter-bank against the dollar at the end of the week as the US currency declined by Rs1 in a week, ARY NEWS reported on Saturday.

According to a report, the dollar witnessed a decline by Rs 1 in the inter-bank and 90-paisa in the open market during the week ended on Saturday.

“The greenback ended up at the lowest rate in the past three months at Rs 158.10 in the interbank,” it said adding that in the open market, the US currency slides down from Rs159.30 to Rs158.40 during the week.

The other currencies in the open market also witnessed a decline against the local currency as Euro declined by 20-paisa to close at Rs192.50 and, the British pound went down by 50-paisa to end the week at Rs221.

Similarly, the Emirati Dirham and Saudi Riyal also witnessed a decline by 20-paisa each to end the week at Rs43.20 and Rs42.10 respectively.

It is pertinent to mention here large inflows of foreign currency in the Roshan Digital Accounts have also paved the way for the local currency to gain strength.

On February 24, Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Dr. Reza Baqir said that over 90,000 Roshan Digital Accounts have been opened by Pakistani Diaspora in 97 countries during the past five months.

“Roshan Digital Accounts programme is the brainchild of Prime Minister Imran Khan,” the SBP governor said adding that the prime minister wanted to make a strong relationship of Pakistanis living abroad with the country through this programme.

Besides sharing the number of accounts opened through the programme, Reza Baqir said that during the past few days, the country has recently crossed the mark of US$500 million received through the digital accounts.