Rupee extends gains

KARACHI: The rupee rose against the dollar in the interbank foreign exchange market on first trading session of FY23 amid improved supplies caused by inflows from diaspora remittances and thin demand for the greenback from importers, dealers said.

The local unit ended at 204.56 to the dollar on Monday, compared with previous close of 204.85. It appreciated by 0.14 percent during the session. “Pre-Eid inflows in the form of remittances from Pakistani citizens employed abroad helped the rupee strengthen further in recent few days. Overseas Pakistanis sent more cash to families to buy sacrificial animals ahead of Eid-ul-Azha this week,” said a currency dealer.

“The dollar demand from importers remained lower as they had already met fiscal year-end payment obligations,” he added. Dealers expect the rupee to gain more in coming days on expectations for resumption of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package.

Pakistan and the IMF are likely to sign a staff-level agreement to restore the loan facility soon, maybe this week if some pending issues are resolved, which include signing of a memorandum of understanding with provinces over surplus subsidies on electricity and gas to be removed.

The IMF has also included strengthening of an anti-corruption institutional mechanism to the list of prior actions for completing the seventh and eighth reviews. In open market, the rupee ended unchanged at 205 per dollar.