The falling foreign exchange reserves dented the business in the dull interbank trading on Friday with the Pakistani rupee shedding more value to the US dollar, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
According to forex dealers, as the dollars disappeared in the open market, the greenback appreciated by 21 paisas against the local currency in the interbank trading and ended the week at Rs225.64.
Interbank closing #ExchangeRate for todayhttps://t.co/jPXHjWYIiK pic.twitter.com/cCOe9xoJEn
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) December 23, 2022
On Thursday, the US dollar had remained in positive territory closing the day at Rs225.43.
Interbank closing #ExchangeRate for todayhttps://t.co/hstFmVFWXg pic.twitter.com/hUcuT7Un71
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) December 22, 2022
A flurry of negative developments was not letting the Pakistani rupee to stand up to the greenback, and the latest bad news came from the State Bank of Pakistan.
The Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank had fallen by another $584 million to a critical level of $6.12 billion. This is the lowest level of SBP-held reserves since April 2014.
The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $12 billion as of December 16, 2022 and net foreign reserves held by commercial banks stood at $5.88 billion.
During the week ended on December 16, the SBP’s reserves had decreased by $584 million to $6.116 billion due to external debt repayment. Last week, foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP had fallen by $15 million to $6.7 billion.
The low level of reserves underscored the urgent need for the resumption of Pakistan’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, which is currently stalled at the level of talks over the ninth review.
Also on Thursday, global ratings agency S&P Global cut Pakistan’s long-term sovereign credit rating by one notch to “CCC+” from “B” to reflect a continued weakening of the country’s external, fiscal and economic metrics.
Reporter Ashraf Khan