The rupee depreciated for the eleventh consecutive session on Monday in the inter-bank market ending the opening session of the year with a little loss versus the US dollar.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the rupee fell by Rs0.51 or 0.22 percent against the dollar to settle at 226.94.
In the preceding week the rupee’s cumulative interbank market depreciation against the dollar was 0.35 percent. The local currency lost 226.43 against the dollar after the conclusion of business, bringing the year’s total depreciation to 22%.
In a key development the National Security Committee (NSC) on Monday agreed on undertaking concrete steps including import rationalization as well as preventing illegal currency outflows and Hawala business.
On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, the Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation in December came in at 24.5 percent, according to figures made public by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Monday.
On a global scale, the US dollar weakened on Tuesday as investors anticipated the release of the minutes from the most recent Federal Reserve policy meeting while the Yen reached its highest level in six months on rumours that the Bank of Japan would abandon its ultra-accommodative stance.
The dollar index started in 2023 slowly and was most recently down 0.096 percent at 103.540.
