Pakistani rupee depreciates against US dollar

Karachi: The Pakistani rupee depreciated slightly against the US dollar on Monday.

According to the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the local currency closed at Rs176.68 recording a meagre loss of 0.01% against the US dollar in the interbank market compared to its close of Rs176.67 on Friday.

The rupee has maintained the downtrend for the past eight months. It has lost 16.03% (or Rs24.41) to date, compared to the 22-month high of Rs152.27 recorded in May 2021.

On Jan 7, Pakistani Rupee recovered slightly against the US dollar on the last day of the trading week after the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) tightened up regulations on foreign currency transactions in an attempt to prevent the local unit from falling further.

"Local currency closed at Rs176.67 compared to its last close of Rs176.2 against the US currency a day earlier," the central bank said.

The rupee also bounced back in hopes that after approval of the supplementary finance bill will help Pakistan secure a $1 billion loan tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which will improve the demand and supply parity.

The rupee has maintained the downtrend for the past seven months. It has lost 16.02% (or Rs24.4) to date, compared to the 22-month high of Rs152.27 recorded in May 2021.

With a fresh rise of 0.14%, the rupee has depreciated by 12.14% (or Rs19.13) since the start of the current fiscal year on July 1, 2021, data released by the central bank revealed.

Pak Rupee hit an all-time low of Rs178.24 on December 29.