KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee recorded gains for the eighth consecutive session against the dollar on Tuesday, amid the finance minister’s statement regarding the strengthening of the rupee value, dealers said.

The exchange rate witnessed a gain of Rs1.65 to reach Rs225.64 against the dollar from the previous day’s closing of Rs227.29 at the interbank exchange market.

Analysts said the market sentiments have turned bullish following Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s statement that strengthening of rupee value would be his top priority and no one would be allowed to do manipulation in the exchange rate.

The market witnessed a continuous supply of the greenback as the exporters opted to sell the dollar after Dar said that strengthening the rupee was his main objective, they added.

An ease in the current account deficit was also witnessed during the current fiscal year. Pakistan’s current account deficit shrank 19 per cent during the first two months of the fiscal year 2023 due to a lower import bill and increase in exports.

Cumulatively, the country recorded a current account deficit amounting to $1.92 billion in the first two months of ongoing fiscal year, compared with $2.37 billion in the same period of last fiscal year, depicting a decline of $456 million, a report by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed.

The decline in the current account deficit is due to an 11 per cent surge in exports and around 2 per cent contraction in the import bill, the central bank said.

However, the current rally of the rupee is likely to be short-lived as the macroeconomics of the country are deteriorating where the foreign exchange reserves of the country witnessed a significant decline.

The foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fell $341 million, clocking in at an alarming level of $8 billion during the week ended September 23, compared with $8.34 billion on September 16.

The total liquid foreign exchange reserves held by the country stood at $13.76 billion. The net foreign reserves held by commercial banks amounted to $5.76 billion.

The local currency remained under pressure since the start of the current fiscal year. The rupee lost Rs20.79 or 10.14 per cent from Rs204.85 to dollar on June 30, 2022 to the current level of Rs225.64.

At the open market, the buying and selling of the dollar was recorded at Rs226.5 and Rs229 at 4:45pm PST.