KARACHI: Pakistani rupee on Tuesday registered a loss for the sixth successive session against the US dollar, falling 0.15 percent in the interbank market.
As per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the rupee closed at 226.15 after a fall of Rs0.33 against the greenback. The rupee has depreciated over 22 percent against the US dollar during the ongoing calendar year.
Interbank closing #ExchangeRate for todayhttps://t.co/36Jd5ihqjO pic.twitter.com/QqU5XghcCY
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) December 27, 2022
On Monday, the rupee depreciated against the US dollar, to settle at 225.82 after a decline of Rs0.18 or 0.08 percent.
Market experts and currency dealers have expressed concern over the rise in smuggling of US dollars to neighboring countries, which is also driving the informal/grey market.
On Monday, Malik Muhammad Bostan, president of the Forex Association of Pakistan, claimed that the country was hemorrhaging dollars owing to smuggling and its trade with Afghanistan.
“Pakistan is currently dealing with problems on several fronts, the political crisis being the first and biggest one. The dollar crisis is also connected with it,” said Malik Bostan, the chairman of the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP) at a news conference.
Mr Bostan pointed out that when the Taliban took over Kabul, one greenback was available for Rs155 and Pakistan’s reserves stood at $22 billion. Now the reserves have sunk to their lowest level in about eight years with a dollar selling for Rs225 in the inter-bank market. This unhindered flow of the American currency towards Afghanistan has created a crisis for Pakistan, he added.
According to Mr. Malik, 15,000 individuals frequently travel to the neighboring country every day, and since Islamabad has allowed each person to take $1,000 per day, 15 million dollars have been legally transferred daily from Pakistan to Afghanistan.
