Rupee slips to historic low against US dollar

Pakistani rupee declined to another historic low against the US dollar when the currency closed trading in the open market at Rs198.39 on Wednesday, according to the State Bank of Pakistan.

In a tweet, the central bank said that the local currency depreciated by 1.34% against the greenback.

The dollar was already rising against the Pakistani rupee for the last couple of days, on Tuesday, it reached Rs196 but on Wednesday it climbed to Rs200 in the open market around mid-day. Before that, in the early morning, it was stable at Rs197.

According to the Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP), the greenback gained Rs1.10 from the previous day’s close of Rs196.50 and climbed to Rs197.60 around 10:15am.

The US currency was being traded traded at Rs200 around 12:00pm in the open market.

Analysts said that even a consistent inflow of record high remittances was not doing anything to curb the dollar’s flight. Emptying foreign exchange reserves, inflow delay and quieter central bank is shaking investor confidence in the market, they added.