KARACHI: The rupee recovered six paisas against the dollar on Tuesday owing to ease in the foreign currency demand for external payments.

The exchange rate ended at Rs177.41 to the dollar from the previous day’s closing of Rs177.47 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

The dealers said that the market witnessed ease in the dollar demand for external payments due to the start of the new month, adding that inflows in the shape of export receipts and foreign remittances were also seen during the day.

However, the local unit may remain under pressure in the coming days owing to higher oil prices in the international markets. Further, the widening of the current account deficit and falling foreign exchange reserves may also deteriorate the rupee value.

The country’s current account deficit (CAD) surged to its highest ever monthly deficit of $2.6 billion in January 2022 ($1.9 billion in December 2021) taking CAD of $11.6 billion during the first seven months of the current fiscal year.

The liquid foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan declined by $264 million to $23.226 billion by the week ended February 18, 2022. The foreign exchange reserves of the country were $23.49 billion by the week ended February 11, 2022.

The official reserves of the State Bank fell by $289 million to $16.807 billion by the week ended February 18, 2022, compared with $17.096 billion a week ago.

The local unit recorded a decline of Rs19.87 or 12.60 per cent from Rs157.54 on June 30, 2021 to the present level of Rs177.41. The local currency fell to the record low at Rs178.24 against the dollar on December 29, 2021.

At the open market, the buying and selling of the dollar was recorded at Rs177.3 and Rs178.9 at 4:00pm PST.