Dollar hits all time high of Rs160.73 against Pak rupee

LAHORE: The Pakistani Rupee (PKR) on Wednesday morning fell further in the early hours of trading at the interbank to another all-time low of Rs160.48/Rs160.73 against US Dollar (USD), an increase of Rs2.19, 3.45 per cent down, from its last close.

According to the data available at Mettis Global, exchange deals have been reported at Rs160.48/Rs160.73 per dollar at the time of filing of this report.

Meanwhile, some media outlets are reporting the dollar-rupee parity at Rs161.50 with an increase of Rs3.80.

Ibrahim Moosa for Mettis Global told Profit, that it is expected that the rupee will settle at Rs160 for the month of June.

According to the available data, during the month of June, the Pakistani rupee depreciated by 8.15 per cent having closed the prior month at Rs147.92 against the mighty dollar.

It is pertinent to mention that during Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) 10-month rein the Pakistani rupee has fallen 29.71 per cent, from Rs123.35 on August 18, 2018, the day Imran Khan was sworn in as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan, to Rs160 today, marking the highest decline in such a short period of time in the history of Pakistan.

Bearing in mind the freshly agreed deal with the International Monetary fund (IMF), further depreciation was expected in the markets as it is a condition for the agreement.

Pak Kuwait Investment Co AVP Research Adnan Sheikh while talking to Profit about rupee devaluation said, “The rupee is likely to fall to Rs175-Rs180 levels by the end of this year”.

He added, “Rupee’s depreciation is inevitable, it will fall in value, sooner than later. The demand for dollar has to rise for repayments and we do not have enough reserves, hence the need to buy dollars.”

The PTI government previously had been very vocal about the rupee devaluation and had criticized its predecessors for failed policies, however, they seem to have changed their opinions now.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister Iftikhar Durrani back in May said the interbank dollar rate rose by Rs32, from Rs64 to Rs96 during the government of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

“The dollar climbed steeply during the era of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), as it went up to Rs26 from Rs96 to Rs122,” he said in a statement, adding that the interbank dollar rate further increased by Rs6 during the interim government and reached Rs128 per dollar.

Moreover, Asad Umar, while he was still the federal finance minister, in April earlier this year ruled out further devaluation of the rupee, which had already lost about 25 per cent of its value by the time of this statement over the past year.

It is being speculated that the rupee to dollar parity will settle somewhere around 180 to 190 levels by the end of this year if the current rate of devaluation continues.

Meanwhile, Gold has reached its record high as well with an Rs1300 per tola increase, currently being traded at Rs80,500 per tola on Tuesday.

The increase in the prices at the local market is witnessed after gold hit $1429 with a hike of $21 per ounce in the international market.