Rupee drops by Rs 1.20 against US dollar in inter-bank market

LAHORE: The Pakistani rupee dropped by Rs 1.20 against the US dollar on Monday morning, as previously it was being traded between a range of Rs 133.20-133.63.

In the open market, the Pakistani rupee was trading at Rs 131.83 against the US dollar till Monday early morning, but fluctuations were observed since the market opened today.

The KSE-100 index showed a downward trend by losing 539.25 points in first 1.5 hours of intra-day trading on Monday to below 37,000 points, and now trading at 36,978.68 points.

On Friday, the Pakistani rupee had recovered a further Rs 1.87 or 1.4% against the US dollar in inter-bank market, the trading was closed at Rs 131.93.

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But the Inter-bank trading showed an unstable trend as the rupee recovered by Rs 1.40 against the US dollar, the value was over all strengthened from an all-time low of Rs 133.64 touched on Tuesday.

According to data, this is the fifth devaluation of the rupee since December 2017, showing Pakistani rupee losing a collective 27% of its value against the US dollar.

According to Central Bank, on Thursday, the country’s foreign exchange reserves descended by another $100 million to $8.3 billion, which could hardly provide 1.5 months of import cover.

The Finance Minister Asad Umar addressed a press conference after his return from Bali, Indonesia on Saturday stating that, “If even one rupee value is diminished against the US dollar, the lumber of debt amplify by Rs 95 billion, however, the previous governments are solely liable for the same.”

He also added that, “The only way to alleviate the Pakistani rupee is to augment Pakistan’s exports. Furthermore, the new government has taken number of initiatives in the textile segment for enhancing exports, and taken steps in the elimination of regulatory duties.”