The rupee has continued to dive, falling more by 1.21 percent to reach Rs228.18 per dollar in the interbank market, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has said.
The local currency that closed at 225.42 on Thursday, showed a depreciation of Rs2.76 today.
During the current week, rupee has declined against the dollar from its value at the close of previous week when it was at 218.98, showing an almost Rs10 decline in its value.
According to experts, payments and a demand-and-supply-gap had created pressure on the local currency. They have also raised concerns that the situation would remain the same because of quarter-end payments including oil payments.
Market experts have also said that the significantly widening gap between the interbank and open market rates, slow remittances and exporters on hold have been factors behind pressure on the rupee.
Zafar Paracha, secretary general of Exchange Companies of Pakistan (ECAP), told local media that exporters had been holding the payments because there was a wide difference in value between the interbank and the open market.
Paracha also said that smuggling was playing a role in devaluation of rupee, further adding that market had never seen smuggling of this scale before. He told that dollar was being smuggled to Iran and Afghanistan, urging the government to revisit trade policy.
According to financial data and analytics portal Mettis Global, the local currency lost 25.62 percent of its value against the greenback during the last 52 weeks.
