Rupee continues to lose ground against US dollar

KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee continued to lose ground against the US dollar in the interbank for the fifth consecutive session on Thursday (today) amid the greenback’s upward trend in the global market.

The local unit was changing hands at 225.19 after losing 1.69 in the interbank market during the intraday trade, down in value from the previous session's close of 223.42.

The rupee has cumulatively lost around 6.6 against the dollar since this week's trade began and is seemingly on the same pattern that was witnessed two months back — when the local unit hit 239.37 on July 28.

The rupee's depreciation follows a fluctuation in the demand and supply position of the greenback in the currency market.

Traders expectations 

Traders and dealers had expected the rupee to trade within a range of 218-19 in the coming days but the situation has quickly changed as floods have overshadowed the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) loan disbursement.

Initial estimates suggest that Pakistan suffered a massive economic loss in the range of $10 to $12.5 billion as a result of the devastating floods — and the government also plans to cut the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) by Rs150 billion.

The local unit largely remained stable last week as the market sighed in relief when a $1.16 billion loan tranche arrived after IMF revived a bailout package for the cash-strapped country.

Talking to Geo.tv, Economist and former adviser to the federal ministry of finance Dr Khaqan Hassan Najeeb said that it was comforting for the markets to see that Pakistan had resumed its programme with the IMF after completing the seventh and eighth reviews.

He noted that the programme's resumption did alleviate fears of a near-term challenging scenario and created the hope for unlocking funding from other multilateral lenders and friendly countries.

However, he noted that the economy has suffered from the worst flood in decades, forcing the government to halve the growth and bring it down to 2.3%.

Najeeb said that in the aftermath of the floods, the damage to cotton and rice crops may hurt exports earlier envisaged at around $36 billion and increase the current account deficit.

The same point was raised by other analysts, who expect the rupee to come under some pressure as Pakistan moves to import a higher amount of essential commodities in the wake of floods in the country.