Rupee falls for second straight day

KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee continued its downward trend against the US dollar in the interbank market for a second straight session on Tuesday.

The rupee ended at 278.65 per dollar, a little lower than its previous closing of 278.5.Dealers said that slow exporter conversions, which were not enough to fulfil importer demand, were the reason for the local unit's slight drop.

The rupee held steady versus the greenback in the open market. It finished at 280.6 against the dollar, unchanged from Monday’s close.The State Bank of Pakistan cut its benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points to 19.5 per cent. This was the SBP’s second straight rate reduction.

During a news briefing after the monetary policy meeting on Monday, Governor of the SBP Jameel Ahmad said that Pakistan is expected to comfortably and timely manage all external repayments in the current fiscal year.

This is due to a manageable current account deficit and improved foreign inflows.Governor Ahmad also highlighted that Pakistan has to repay $26.2 billion in external repayments in FY25, including $22 billion principal and $4 billion interest.

Out of this amount, $16 billion (including $4 billion in commercial loans) is expected to be rolled over. Of the remaining $10 billion, $1.1 billion has already been repaid in July, and $9 billion is scheduled to be repaid in the remaining period of this fiscal year.