KARACHI: The rupee continued to take a battering against the US dollar, dropping to 212 in the inter-bank on Monday during intra-day trading, a depreciation of Rs1.05 against the greenback.
On Friday, the rupee had closed at 210.95, a depreciation of 0.55% or Rs1.15, as pressure piled up due to import payments and the US currency’s strength.
During the previous week, the rupee depreciated 1.4% even as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that it had reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan on Thursday as the US dollar’s renewed strength and deteriorating economic conditions added to pressure on the local currency.
The rupee lost value in two of the three sessions, gaining only marginally on Thursday – the day the IMF staff-level agreement was announced – as investors bet on the US Federal Reserve ratcheting up interest rates to combat soaring inflation, adding to the dollar strength against the rupee.
Additionally, Pakistan saw its foreign exchange reserves fall further, with analysts saying that pending import payments were also adding their weight on the rupee’s downward slide.
Meanwhile, the dollar began the week nudging down from multi-year highs, though fears about Europe’s gas supply put a cap on dollar selling.
The greenback has soared this year thanks to a combination of rising US interest rates and wobbling economies in Europe and China.