US dollar touches another historic high against Pakistani rupee

F.P. Report

KARACHI: The US dollar’s unstoppable surge continued on Wednesday as the greenback reached historic high when its value appreciated by 28 paisas against the Pakistani currency in the interbank trading.

According to the forex dealers, the dollar was exchanged at the historic Rs179.50 during morning trade session after gaining 29 paisas against rupee. Yesterday, it was closed at Rs179.22.

Economic experts are of the view that the Pakistani rupees is under pressure due to rising import bills and foreign loans.

They said that the rupee came under further pressure after the payment of foreign loan to the tune of $1.12 billion in one month’s time.

The rupee got strength when the IMF revived Pakistan’s loan programme and released $1 billion tranche under the Extended Loan Facility on Feb 2. But the recent announcement of Prime Minister Imran Khan regarding petrol and electricity price cut made the global lender reluctant to release another tranche as both Pakistan and IMF are continued holding their 7th review. But so far, they have not reached any agreement as the IMF wanted government to raise petrol and electricity prices and withdraw subsidies.

The forex-starved Pakistan’s currency is constantly showing a trend of instability during day today interbank and open market trading.