Pakistani Rupee falls to historic low against US dollar
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KARACHI: Forex dealers have said that the value of the US dollar hit an all-time high of Rs127.50 in the interbank market on Monday.
The US dollar rose by Rs6 in the interbank market today, the forex dealers said.
As the market opened, the rate of dollar soared to a high of Rs126 and then went to Rs125.50 before rising once again and spiking to Rs127.50.
In the open market, the US dollar rose by Rs4 taking the rate to Rs128.20.
At the close of business on Friday, the rate of dollar closed on Rs121.54 in interbank foreign exchange market.
On June 14, the rate of dollar closed on Rs121.39. Dollar rose to Rs1 during that day and also witnessed a sharp increase to Rs122 at one point.
Further on June 11, the US dollar closed at Rs119.84, after reaching a record high of Rs121 earlier that day.
Increasing imports and a widening current account deficit were cited as the possible reasons for the hike in the value of the foreign currency.
Despite the continued growth in exports (13.3 percent in Jul-Apr FY18) and some uptick in remittances, growing imports have pushed the current account deficit to US$ 14.0 billion during the first ten months of FY18, which is 1.5 times the level of deficit realised during the same period last year, SBP said.
The bank said this market-driven adjustment in the exchange rate along with other recent policy measures are expected to contain the imbalances in the external account, thereby containing aggregate demand and also facilitating the prospects for generating non-debt creating inflows.
In March, the US dollar shot up by Rs4.93 in the inter-bank market to hit a high of Rs115.5 before coming down to Rs115 at the close of business.
Since December, the rupee has depreciated by about 14 per cent.
