US Dollar rate remains constant at the year end 2018

KARACHI: The US dollar is traded a bit above Rs139 against the Pakistani rupee for the fifth time when the market opened on Monday, which indicates that US dollar remains stable for exchange rates in the most unpredictable year of 2018. 

According to market check, the dollar was being traded in the bracket of Rs139 to Rs140 for almost more than two weeks, but had not revealed any foremost variation as of the rest of the year.

However, in the outgoing year, it is observed that the US dollar elevated by Rs4 or more in a day and this happened almost five times, but also only once the US dollar rate lessen by Rs4 during intra-day trade.

In a nutshell, in general the US dollar rate showed upward trend by 27% against the Pakistani rupee, observing two of its enormous variations in a very petite time period of almost one-and-a-half months.

On November 30, Pakistan’s history experienced the highest level ever of US dollar of Rs9.5 to Rs143.5 in the interbank market which remained maximum intraday increase. Though, it closed at Rs140.3 on the same day, but since then the US dollar rate remained constant to Rs139.

Furthermore, the interbank rate is said to be the standard rate that decides the Pakistani rupee’s value against the US dollar, which frequently remains a bit underneath the open market rates.

It is believed that the elevation in the US dollar rate against the Pakistani rupee is mainly the effect of change in our exchange rate policy and growing price of US dollar in the international market. Also, majority of the currencies that are dependent on US dollar experienced devaluation this year.

Presently, Pakistan is experiencing scarcity of US dollars, due to imports being greater than the exports which means that our reserves level are very low for the payment of even necessary imports such as oil, raw materials and machinery etc. In order to curtail the balance of payment catastrophe, the government is seeking various necessary alternatives such as appealing of loan from the International Monetary Fund and also requesting for assistance by gracious countries.

Till date, we have obtained one after the other aid assistance of worth $6 billion from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, we have by now accepted $2 billion from the Saudis, which has presented steadiness for the time being  in the exchange rates by escalating our dollar reserves. However, Pakistan is in need of more US dollar assistance for the continuation of  payments for vital imports and foreign loans, because at the moment Pakistan has only $7.4 billion in its reserves, which are not even sufficient  for two months of imports.

Also, the IMF talks have been delayed and it is revealed that we are not allowed to connect to the IMF programme until March 2019, due to which it is said that US dollar rate is expected to elevate if IMF talks are delayed more.