Dollar climbs to record Rs147 in interbank market

F.P. Report

KARACHI: The US dollar on Thursday morning touched record Rs147 in the interbank market, a day after bouncing back to Rs144 in the open market.

According to reports, the greenback gained by Rs5.61 – approximately 4 percent – to be sold for Rs147 in the interbank market. It is currently being bought for Rs146 in the interbank market.

The latest depreciation in the rupee comes following Pakistan’s agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) securing a $6 billion bailout on Sunday.

The dollar climbed to an all-time high of Rs146.25 in the open market on Wednesday, before bouncing back to Rs144.

After yesterday’s hike, Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered concerned authorities to take action against foreign exchange companies selling the dollar at higher rates, news channel reported.

The decision was taken at a meeting pertaining to foreign currency rates in the country, the sources said. The meeting, presided over by PM Khan, also had a delegation of E-Commerce Association of Pakistan in attendance.

“The investors have taken the IMF conditions as negative, especially with regard to free float of the rupee against the dollar and increasing the interest rate,” Yawar Uz-Zaman, head of Research at Shajar Capital, a brokerage house in Karachi, told AFP.

For more than a year now, Pakistan has struggled to stave off a looming balance-of-payments crisis while its economy teeters due to low growth, soaring inflation, and mounting debt.