The Pakistani Rupee (PKR) collapsed further against the US Dollar (USD) and posted losses during intraday trade today.
It depreciated by 0.90 percent against the USD and closed at Rs. 223.42 after losing Rs. 1.99 in the interbank market today. The local unit quoted an intra-day low of Rs. 224.25 against the USD during today’s open market session.
The local unit was all red in the morning against the greenback and opened trade at 221.35. By midday, the greenback went as low as 220.50 against the rupee. After 2 PM, the local unit dropped to the 222-224 level against the top foreign currency before the interbank close.
The rupee reported losses against the dollar today fourth day in a row today as the scarcity of the greenback in currency markets put pressure on the local unit. Experts also suggest that the dollar gaining strength internationally is one of the major reasons impacting the rupee.
Last week, the local currency remained largely stable as the market exhaled a sigh of relief when a $1.16 billion loan tranche arrived after the International Monetary Fund revived a bailout package for a cash-strapped country.
Moreover, as a result of the devastating floods, the South Asian nation suffered a significant economic disruption of over $10 billion, and the government is trying to curb the losses by exercising additional price-cut mechanisms to offset expenditure across various budgetary functions.
Sources told ProPakistani that the coalition partners are likely to impose a cut of up to Rs. 100 billion on the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2022-23. PSDP is the key government expenditure that impacts the growth rate directly.
Globally, oil soared on Wednesday on the West’s concerns that Russia will walk away from its energy supply deals, reversing losses from earlier in the session when prices dropped to their lowest since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Brent crude was up by 0.71 percent at $93.49 per barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) went up by 0.60 percent to settle at $87.40 per barrel.
Oil prices rose after Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier today that if price caps are imposed on Russia’s energy resources, Moscow will stop supplying gas and oil to Europe and its allies.
The PKR was negative against most of the other major currencies in the interbank market today. It lost 37 paisas against the Pound Sterling (GBP), 53 paisas against the Saudi Riyal (SAR), 54 paisas against the UAE Dirham (AED), 63 paisas against the Euro (EUR), and 63 paisas against the Canadian Dollar (CAD).
Conversely, it gained 13 paisas against the Australian Dollar (AUD) in today’s interbank currency market.
