Rupee declines

The rupee edged lower against the dollar on Friday on dollar demand from importers, dealers said. It closed at 160.19 against the greenback, compared with Thursday’s closing of 160.02 in the interbank market.

In the open market, the rupee lost 20 paisas to end at 160.60 against the greenback. It ended at 160.40 in the previous trade. Dealers said the currency went down on dollar demand for import payments. “Importers bought dollars to cover payments before the weekend,” a dealer said. “We see the rupee to stabilise at the current levels in the coming week. However, the future course of the currency will be impacted by the outcome of Prime Minister Imran Khan and the US President Donald Trump meeting in Washington on Monday.”

PM Khan will travel to the US on Sunday. He is expected to fetch foreign investment and get tariff concessions in exchange for assurance of full cooperation in ending the war in Afghanistan.

The Asian Development Bank report released on Thursday prompted concerns among investors about the country’s economic outlook. “Rising twin deficits in the fiscal and current accounts weigh on Pakistan’s outlook,” the Manila-based lender said in the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) supplement.

The ADB; however, didn’t mention the growth projection for the current fiscal year of 2019/20. The ADB, in its ADO 2019 released in April, projected Pakistan’s growth at 3.6 percent for FY2020.