Rupee ascend continues as dollar slips to Rs158.33

Pakistani Rupee maintained its winning run against the US Dollar for 21st consecutive day, gaining another 16 paisas in the interbank market on Thursday.

According to a State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) tweet, the US dollar opened at Rs158.49 on Thursday and closed at Rs158.33. PKR has gained Re0.76 against the greenback in the last four days.

“Stable foreign exchange reserves and a return to current-account surplus for the first time in five years, thanks to record remittances, have helped shore up the currency,” said Bloomberg in its report. “The nation separately won $1.4 billion in emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund this year, while it also received funds from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank to deal with the economic impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.”

The recent appreciation in the rupee is mainly driven by FX inflows, positive market sentiments, and it is broadly in line with global USD weakness across major currencies,” said Pervez Shahbaz Khan, Global Treasurer at Askari Bank Ltd, in Karachi. “Future direction will depend on upcoming current account numbers.”

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