Pak rupee free fall continues on panic dollar buying

Pak rupee free fall continues on panic dollar buying

The Pakistani rupee continued its free-fall and crossed the 210 threshold against the US dollar (57.22 against the dirham) for the first time in the interbank market on Monday.

The local currency remained highly volatile as it plunged to a record low of over Rs211 (57.49 against the dirham) against the US dollar during the intraday trading and closed at Rs209.96 against the greenback (57.20 versus the dirham) in the interbank market after losing Rs1.21, or 0.58 per cent, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). This is the seventh consecutive decline in the rupee’s value, losing approximately Rs6, or over three per cent.

In the open market, the rupee was changing hands at 215 against the US dollar (58.58 versus the dirham) as the importers were keen to buy the greenback to pay their import bills before June 30.

“The US dollar was available at Rs211.21 in early trade after traders resorted to panic buying on reports that some commercial banks had run out of the foreign currency,” according to a banker.

Analysts and market experts said the rupee will remain under pressure as demand for the greenback continues to soar due to quarter-end payments. They said widening trade deficit, shrinking foreign