The Pakistani rupee slid against the US dollar as the greenback appreciated by 84 paisas in the interbank trading on Monday amid delay in finalisation of any agreement with the IMF, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the PKR exuded confidence and pushed the greenback 77 notched down at the start of the trading in interbank on Monday but soon the trend reversed and the USD gained Rs1.23 in its value and settled the day for 84 paisas ending at Rs281.61.

https://twitter.com/StateBank_Pak/status/1635233735569457156

On Friday, the last working day of the previous week, the local currency soared by Rs1.53 against the US dollar and ended the trade at Rs280.77.

https://twitter.com/StateBank_Pak/status/1634145554828607490

The rupee broke its losing spree on Friday after the country received a small boost in its foreign exchange reserves due to commercial loan disbursement from China wherein the State Bank of Pakistan acquired $500 million from China Development Bank.

Accordingly, the foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP increased by $486.9 million to $4.3 billion during the week ended on March 03, 2023, marking the fourth consecutive increase on weekly basis.

However, the delayed IMF deal is putting constant pressure on the stability of rupee. 

The country is struggling to unlock critical IMF funding, while a bigger-than-expected interest rate hike failed to revive its markets. 

The currency - which has weakened by nearly 20% since the start of the year – is on the decline following delays in a deal between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund as both parties have been negotiating since early last month.

However, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced on Thursday that the country was ‘very close’ to signing a staff level agreement with the IMF, which would offer a critical lifeline for calming the balance of payments crisis.

An agreement would release $1.1 billion to country’s cash-strapped economy.

"We seem to be very close to signing the staff level agreement, hopefully, God willing, in the next few days," Dar said at a seminar in Islamabad.

Reporter Ashraf Khan