PKR reverses course, falls by Rs8 in open market

The rupee fell 2.6 per cent against the US dollar in the open market on Monday, changing course after appreciating sharply towards the end of last week. According to the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan, the greenback closed at Rs308 in the open market, an increase of Rs8 from Friday’s close. Analysts said today’s price movement came on the back of a shortage of dollars in the open market, attributing it to “hoarders” holding onto the foreign currency in anticipation of further depreciation of the rupee. “People who have bought the currency at up to Rs310 are not selling, they are going for the wait-and-see strategy,” said Zafar Paracha, general secretary of the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan. He said that the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) strategy to allow banks to acquire US dollars from the interbank market for the settlement of card-based cross-border transactions with the International Payment System should have brought down the price by around Rs10 to Rs20.