Pakistan’s rupee on Monday lost Rs1.75 against the US dollar and was hovering at the 229-230 level in the interbank market.
At around 1:30pm, the rupee was being quoted at 229.90, a depreciation of Rs1.72 or 0.75% against the greenback, during intra-day trading.
The rupee had a woeful previous week, losing value in all five sessions for a cumulative fall of over 4% to close at 228.18 against the US dollar in the inter-bank market.
In addition to the dollar’s strength globally, the devaluation was mostly related to concerns that Pakistan’s import bill would rise in the wake of disastrous floods that had damaged a sizable chunk of crops. However, a lot of analysts also think that there are other factors at work, such as speculation and open market demand for foreign currency.
The rupee will likely continue to be under pressure as there are growing concerns that Pakistan’s import bill would increase even if aid arrived gradually.
The dollar index, which measures the currency against six major peers, was little changed at 108.82, holding close to those levels after falling back from a two-decade peak reached on Wednesday.
It dipped to the lowest since Aug. 30 at 108.35 in the previous session.
