The toothless Pakistani rupee kept suffering at the hands of mighty US dollar as the greenback topped the Rs264 mark in interbank trading on Monday. According to the forex dealers, the US dollar resumed its hammering of the local currency and it appreciated by Rs1.40 as the trading opened on Monday. The greenback was currently being traded at Rs264.

On the last trading day on Friday, Pakistani rupee had witnessed significant depreciation against the US dollar in the inter-bank market, falling 2.73%. As per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the rupee had closed at 262.60 after a fall of Rs7.17. The depreciation comes as Pakistan moves to convince the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it has a no-holds-barred exchange rate, ahead of the Fund’s visit to Islamabad.

Many analysts said the rupee was bound to see significant depreciation as part of the prior conditions to revive the IMF bailout programme. The IMF had also announced its mission will visit Pakistan from January 31-February 9 to continue the discussions for the 9th review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

The IMF programme revival has been deemed crucial in the face of fast-depleting foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP that dropped a massive $923 million to a mere $3.7 billion, data released on Thursday last showed. This was the lowest level of SBP-held reserves since February 2014.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP