Rupee ends flat

KARACHI: Continuous and massive depreciation of Pakistani rupee against the US dollar for the last several days came to a halt on Friday, when local currency almost closed at the same rate as the previous day.

Local currency which closed at Rs173.96 a day earlier after touching the highest ever mark of Rs174.96 in intra-day trading closed at Rs174 against greenback at the end of trading.

Pakistani currency has been continuously shedding its value against dollar on the back of ballooning current account deficit, caused by higher imports and uncertainty shrouding Pakistan-IMF talks about resumption of the extended fund facility (EFF). “Pakistan rupee dropped to highest ever mark of Rs174.30 in intra-day trading, however it recovered by closing at Rs174 at the end of trading,” currency dealers said.

They said that usually Friday is not seen as a high trading day, and it remained so in “today’s session too with no significant selling”. The expect a clearer picture to emerge on Monday when there was news about Pakistan-IMF talks.

Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP) Chairman Malik Bostan said the continuous depreciation of Pakistani rupee against greenback has been due to higher import. He pointed out that Pakistan import bill was $6.5 billion last month and it was expected to be the same this month.

Bostan said that apart from import of commodities, machinery was also being imported. He said machinery worth $2.50 billion was imported last month and L/Cs of, more or less, same amount have been opened for import of machinery this month. He said the local currency would receive strength if Pakistan was able to resume the IMF programme. Talking about Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Bostan said it also seemed to have been for some kind of financial aid from the brotqqqher country, that, if secured, would give some support to the local currency.