There was no let-up in the US dollar’s winning streak against the Pakistani rupee on Thursday as the greenback scored a gain of 12 paisas in the interbank business. According to the forex dealers, the minimal gain took the dollar price to trade at Rs221 up from Rs220.88. On Wednesday, the greenback added Rs1.17 to its value and concluded the day at Rs220.88. The Pakistani rupee has been getting a drubbing at the hands of the US dolalr for the last seven days in which the value of the American currency has been appreciated by Rs2.83. The experts believe that the US dollar is evaporating from the market and is being sold in the grey market at much higher rates. The widening gap between the rates of dollar in the open market and the interbank trading is indicative of this fact.

Though the State Bank tightened its rules earlier vis-à-vis the emergence of grey market, but now it seems the measures have stopped controlling it. The financial experts said that pressure was being seen on the Pakistani rupee due to external repayment of commercial borrowing and import bills. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said on Tuesday that Pakistan’s oil and eatables imports grew 9.06 percent to $7.58 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year from $6.95bn a year ago. The oil import bill increased by over 5.94pc to $4.86bn in July-September from $4.59bn over the corresponding months of last year. Whereas the food import bill rose by over 15.21pc to $2.72bn in the three months under review from $2.36bn a year ago to bridge the local production gap.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP