KARACHI, June 27(ABC): The Pakistani rupee opened the week with a slight decline against the US dollar in the interbank market on Monday.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the local currency closed at Rs207.94 against the greenback, after losing 0.22% compared to its session’s close of Rs207.48.
Since the beginning of this fiscal year (July 1, 2021) to date, the rupee has collectively dropped by a massive 31.99% (or Rs50.4) compared to the previous fiscal year’s close at Rs157.54.
The rupee has maintained a downward trend for the last 13 months. It has lost 36.56% (or Rs55.67) to date, compared to the record high of Rs152.27 recorded in May 2021.
The analysts were hopeful about the strength of the rupee if the government was able to secure a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) next week.
They hoped that the country would be able to clinch the deal with the IMF to revive the stalled programme after major conditions were met by the government.
Last week, the government slapped a super tax on the big industrial sector as well as burdened the salaried class by revising tax rate on different slabs of personal tax to generate an additional Rs400 billion under the demand of IMF to raise tax revenue target to Rs7,400 billion for the next fiscal against Rs7,000 billion, it proposed at the time of presentation of the budget on June 10, 2022.
Analysts expected that the revival of the IMF programme would have a positive impact on the rupee, which remained a victim of negative sentiments after the international lender remained reluctant to revive the programme on the violation of agreed conditions by the country.
Pakistan is facing a financial crisis with reserves depleting fast amid the stalled $6 billion IMF programme. The country is also struggling with a widening current account deficit, weighed down by higher imports, and surging inflation.