The Pakistani Rupee (PKR) reversed its recovering trend against the US Dollar (USD) and posted gains in the interbank market today.
It depreciated by 0.79 percent against the USD and closed at Rs. 202.35 after losing Rs. 1.58 in the interbank market today. The local unit hit an intra-day high of Rs. 201.15 against the USD during today’s open market session.
The PKR has lost 2.24 percent against the USD on a week-on-week (WoW) basis. While the month-to-date (MTD) position shows an appreciation of 0.24 percent. the rupee has declined by 14.64 percent on a calendar year-to-date (CYTD) basis and 28.44 percent on a fiscal year-to-date (FYTD) basis.
The rupee ended its two-day winning steak against the dollar on budget day. At the time of filing this report, the government had set the following targets under budget FY2022-23:
- A tax collection target of Rs. 7 trillion for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for FY23.
- Allocation of Rs. 800 billion for the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for FY23.
- A target to curtail imports at $70 billion. While the target for exports has been set at $35 billion for FY23.
- A target to enhance Tax-to-GDP to 9.2 percent. Currently, the Tax-to-GDP ratio stands at just 8.6 percent.
- A target to curtail inflation at 11.5 percent.
- A target of 5% GDP growth for the fiscal year 2022-23.
In terms of global factors impacting progress at home, Brent crude surged above the $122 level after briefly peaking at $124.3 on Friday, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) settled above $122 per barrel. It is noteworthy that both benchmarks first closed on Wednesday at their highest since March 8, matching levels seen in 2008. Today’s hike was supported by rising fuel demand in the United States. With average prices soaring in the past two months, Brent is on track for a fourth-consecutive weekly gain and WTI on a seventh straight weekly rise.
The PKR reversed gains against most of the other major currencies in the interbank market today. It lost two paisas against the Euro (EUR), six paisas against the Australian Dollar (AUD), 42 paisas against the Saudi Riyal (SAR), 43 paisas against the UAE Dirham (AED), and Rs. 1.05 against the Pound Sterling (GBP).
Conversely, it gained 48 paisas against the Canadian Dollar (CAD) in today’s interbank currency market.
