Rupee’s free fall in straight 19th session, closes at 228.34

The rupee lost value against the US dollar for the 19th session in a row on Monday, falling 0.08 percent in the inter-bank market.

The local currency dropped by Rs0.19 to end the day at 228.34, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). The current fiscal year has seen a 10.33 percent depreciation of the rupee against the dollar.

The rupee slipped slightly against the dollar’s lost value in all five of the previous week’s trading sessions, dropping 0.44 percent to end the week at 228.15 in the interbank market.

A sharp decline in foreign exchange was also noted on Thursday, with State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reserves reaching $4.3 billion following more than $1.2 billion in debt payments.

Even Pakistan was able to get a rollover of $2 billion and the UAE also made an additional loan announcement of $1 billion although the inflows have not yet occurred, highlighting the need of restarting the dormant International Monetary Fund (IMF) program.

Jameel Ahmad, the governor of SBP, gave the business community an assurance that the problem of dollar limitations will be resolved shortly after manufacturers predicted bleak prospects for industrial production if raw material imports were to continue to be restricted.

By changing the petroleum levy (PL) rates on Sunday, the federal government maintained the same pricing for all petroleum products, according to reports.