The US dollar kept up its upward trajectory and gained 60 paisas in its value against Pakistani rupee in the interbank trading on Monday. According to data provided by the money dealers, the US dollar surged against the local unit which was depreciated by 60 paisas during morning session, letting the greenback to be traded at Rs285.25.

On Friday, the last working day of the previous week, the Pakistani rupee tumbled by 23 paisas and settled the day's trade at PKR 284.65 per US dollar. The market is showing less confidence in the local unit owing to political uncertainty, delay in the IMF programme, and dwindling foreign reserves.

The hopes of the market further dampened following the news that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has cancelled his US visit to attend the spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank. He initially planned to meet with the management of the International Monetary Fund during spring meetings to discuss and address obstacles hindering the progress of a staff-level agreement that would facilitate the resumption of a stalled bailout package.

Since January, the government has been in talks with the IMF to secure the release of $1.1bn from a $6.5bn bailout package agreed upon in 2019. Pakistan’s forex reserves are also drying up.  The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decreased by $36.4 million to $4.2 billion during the week ended on March 31, 2023, according to the data released by the central bank on Thursday.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP