For the fifth straight session, the Pakistani rupee has lost a small amount of ground against the US dollar, falling 0.08 percent on Monday in the inter-bank market.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) the rupee dropped by Rs0.18 versus the dollar to settle at 225.82. In the current calendar year the value of the rupee has fallen by 21.9 percent in relation to the US dollar.
The rupee had lost barely 0.3 percent of its value last week ending up at 225.64 against the dollar but with strict administrative restrictions limiting trading the black markets stepped in to fill the void with reports indicating that the currency traded in between 255–260.
SBP’s foreign exchange reserves have decreased by another $584 million during the week falling to a critical level of $6.12 billion which has been the lowest level since April 2014, underscoring the pressing need for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program to resume its original course.
However, the ninth review negotiations have still been at a standstill and with allegedly strict criteria on the table, it has appeared that it may be some time before the IMF program resumes.
The Chinese Yuan, on the other hand, edged higher versus the dollar in weak holiday trading on Monday. The global dollar index was 104.325 in relation to a basket of currencies.
Because most markets were closed for the holidays in observance of Christmas and New Year the oil prices which were a crucial indication of currency parity remained constant.
Following Moscow’s announcement that it could reduce crude output in response to the G7 price ceiling on Russian exports oil prices rose by around $3 per barrel on Friday marking the second straight week of increases.
