Pakistan faces yet another economic blow

Pakistan faces yet another economic blow

LONDON - Pakistan faces yet another economic blow after State Bank of Pakistan increased interest rates.

Pakistan’s dollar-denominated sovereign debt came under pressure on Friday after the central bank slashed its growth forecast and warned of mounting headwinds while hiking interest rates to 10%.

The country’s 2036 issue fell 1.23 cents to 88.436 cents, its lowest level since September, according to Tradeweb data.

The central bank has now raised rates by more than 4 percentage points since January in a bid to ease widening current account pressures that threaten to trigger a balance of payments crisis. Earlier on Friday, the rupee plunged more than 6% in what dealers said was another currency devaluation by the central bank.