Rupee strengthens

KARACHI: The rupee on Thursday strengthened to its highest level in more than two-and-a-half months, buoyed by dollar inflows from official sources, dealers said.

In the interbank market, the rupee closed at 166.88/dollar, its strongest since April 16, 2020 and 0.69 percent higher than the previous close of 168.05.The local unit grew by Rs1.17 against the greenback. Dealers said the currency gained grounds due to decline in dollar demand from importers and corporates, after the closing of the fiscal year 2019/20.

The State Bank of Pakistan received $1.3 billion as the government loans from Chinese banks on Tuesday. Last week the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank disbursed a total amount of $1.725 billion in loans to Pakistan.

These loans have helped the SBP improve its foreign exchange reserves and increased dollar supplies to the market. Dealers expect the rupee to appreciate further against the dollar in the coming sessions due to subdued demand for hard currency and rise in the central bank's foreign currency reserves. The rupee closed higher at 167.30 to the dollar, compared with previous close of 168.30 in open market.