On the heels of unsuccessful talks with the IMF and sharp plunge in country’s foreign exchange reserves, the Pakistani rupee gave in to the US dollar in the early trading in interbank market on Friday, but later the local currency roared back and pressed ahead with its upward journey, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the local currency though started the day on a negative note and lost 49 paisas but soon it turned the table on the greenback depite Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s announcement of plans to introduce mini-budget carrying the bitter pill of Rs170 billion taxes.
The Pakistani rupee ended the day at Rs269.28 up by Rs1.28 against the US dollar.
Interbank closing #ExchangeRate for todayhttps://t.co/iQLYimEqT2 pic.twitter.com/2Y0UGQVVj5
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) February 10, 2023
The local currency had maintained an upward momentum against the US dollar on Thursday, closing at 270.51 with an appreciation of Rs2.82 or 1.04%.
Interbank closing #ExchangeRate for todayhttps://t.co/h41q3JSeF6 pic.twitter.com/DQ58zWRzx3
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) February 9, 2023
However, the IMF and Pakistani authorities have been unable to reach staff-level agreement after a week-long discussion. The IMF said that virtual discussions will continue to finalise the implementation details of policies, implying that an agreement to revive the programme through a staff-level agreement may still take some time as Pakistan moves to execute the prior actions.
Meanwhile, the country’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves further shrunk by $202 million during the last week. According to the State Bank of Pakistan's (SBP) weekly report issued on Thursday, total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $8.54 billion as of February 3, 2023, compared to $8.74 billion as of Jan 27, 2023.
https://twitter.com/StateBank_Pak/status/1623714142761656322
Reporter Ashraf Khan
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