KARACHI: The rupee recovered 11 paisas against the dollarlinkonMonday owing to an ease in the global oil prices.
The exchange rate ended at Rs175.75 to the dollar from last Friday’sclosing of Rs175.86 in the interbank foreign exchange market.
The dealers said that the reports of possible diplomatic talks onRussia-Ukraine tensions had brought down the oil prices in theinternational markets.
Pakistan is one of the major importers of petroleum products to meet thelocal demand.
The oil bill of the country surged 107 per cent to $11.7 billion during thefirst seven months (July–January) of the current fiscal year, as comparedwith $5.64 billion during the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.
The dealers said that the clearance of the dollar is closed because of apublic holiday in the US on the account of Washington Day. The trading inthe interbank has been made for advance payments, they added.
They said that the depletion in the foreign exchange reserves remained achallenge for rupee stability.
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The liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country slipped by $231 millionto $23.49 billion by the week ended February 11, 2022, as compared with$23.721 billion a week ago. Similarly, the official reserves of the StateBank of Pakistan (SBP link)fell by $241 million to $17.096 billion by the week ended February 11,2022, as compared with $17.337 billion a week ago.
The rupee remained under pressure since the start of the current fiscalyear. The local unit recorded a decline of Rs18.21 of 11.60 per cent fromRs157.54 on June 30, 2021 to the present level of Rs175.75.
The local currency fell to the record low at Rs178.24 against the dollar onDecember 29, 2021.
At the open market, the buying and selling was recorded at Rs176.3 andRs177.8.
