The Pakistan rupee after suffering a good hammering by the US dollar all this week has revived a bit as it appreciated by further 20 paisas in the interbank trading, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
According to market figures, the US dollar slid by 20 paisas during morning trade activity on Saturday as the greenback was being traded at Rs186.50. Yesterday, the American currency was closed at Rs186.70.
Interbank closing #ExchangeRate for todayhttps://t.co/4M4hLfwQbw pic.twitter.com/LbGzpVwbOi
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) April 22, 2022
Pakistani rupee which revived soon after the installation of new government, soon lost its upward trajectory owing to still persistent political uncertainty, rising import bill, current account deficit and more important still awaited $1 billion tranche stalled by the IMF.
The IMF raised objections over former prime minister’s relief package and it delayed its loan facility.
New Finance Minister Miftah Ismail who has gone to Washington will hold talks with the officials of the global lender for the release of the tranche.
Miftah said he had "good discussions" with the IMF. "They've talked about removing the subsidy on fuel. I agree with them," Ismail, himself a former International Monetary Fund economist, said at the Atlantic Council.
"We can't afford to do the subsidies that we're doing. So, we're going to have to curtail this," he said.
He said that former prime minister Imran Khan set a "trap" for his successors through heavy subsidies on fuel.
Miftah, however, said that some targeted subsidies should remain for Pakistan's poorest amid sky-high global prices.
The Finance minister on Friday expressed his satisfaction over the foreign exchange reserves’ condition saying though reserves are low, there was a little increase in it.
After many weeks of continuously decreasing foreign exchange reserves, last week we finally turned the corner and remained at a stable albeit low position. I am quite optimistic the coming weeks will see an increase in forex reserves. pic.twitter.com/YJtrQdCOr8
— Miftah Ismail (@MiftahIsmail) April 22, 2022
Reporter Ashraf Khan