Rupee suffers 15th straight loss vs dollar

The rupee on Monday continued losing its value despite falling demand for US dollars in the interbank market. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported the greenback closed at Rs287.55 after gaining 52 paise over last session’s Rs287.03. The local currency has weakened by four per cent against the dollar since the start of the declining trend in mid-October. Currency experts and dealers have no clue about the endpoint of the rupee’s losing streak which entered the 15th consecutive session, gradually drifting to an all-time low of Rs307.10 hit in the first week of September. However, they blame the short supply of dollars as the common factor behind the day-on-day deprecation of the local currency. Some experts say the PKR devaluation has no match with the other regional currencies’ depreciation. “The devaluation of local currency is not the regional trend. It is the case of weak fundamentals with low foreign exchange reserves and the country’s dependence on borrowed help from external sources,” said a senior banker. Pakistan is currently engaged with the IMF for the release of a second tranche of $710m under the nine-month $3bn Standby Arrangement (SBA). Despite positive signals from the government side about the ongoing first quarterly review under the SBA, the market sentiments remained depressive not allowing the local currency to resist further decline in its value.