KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee recorded a marginal loss against the dollar on Friday, amid dried up inflows, while future repayment obligations are likely to hit the foreign exchange reserves, dealers said.
The exchange rate shed 2 paisas against the dollar to reach Rs223.94 from the previous day’s closing of Rs223.92 in the interbank foreign exchange market.
Currency experts said that the local unit witnessed another fall due to narrowing foreign exchange reserves besides delays in the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the ninth review.
The funds pledged by friendly countries earlier have also not been materialised which have further added to the pressure on the local unit, they added.
As the country is gearing up for repaying bonds and sukuks during the next, it is facing a balance of payment crisis amid declining foreign exchange reserves, which have returned back to a downward stream after some respite during the week earlier.
The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan fell $134 million to reach $7.82 billion during the week ended November 18, compared with $7.95 billion on November 11.
According to the central bank, the decrease in reserves came due to external debt repayment.
The overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including the net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $13.64 billion, while the net reserves held by banks amounted to $5.81 billion.
The net foreign direct investment (FDI) in Pakistan slumped 62 per cent to $95 million in October 2022, compared with $247.3 million in the same month last year. However, the net FDI was up 13 per cent, compared with $84 million recorded in September 2022.
During the first four months of fiscal year 2023, the net FDI dropped 52 per cent year-on-year to $348 million, compared with $726 million during the same period of last fiscal year.
The workers remittances have also declined 15.7 per cent to reach $2.21 billion in October, compared with $2.62 billion in the same month of the last year.
On a monthly basis, the remittances witnessed a decline of 9 per cent, compared with $2.43 billion received during September.
The textile exports declined 15.2 per cent to reach $1.35 billion in October, compared with $1.6 billion in the corresponding month of the last year.
On a monthly basis, the exports declined 11.1 per cent with a major decline in components including cotton cloth, knitwear, bedwear, towels, and readymade garments.
The local currency remained under pressure since the start of the current fiscal year. The rupee lost Rs19.09 or 9.31 per cent from Rs204.85 to dollar on June 30, 2022 to the current level of Rs223.94.
At the open market, the buying and selling of the dollar was recorded at Rs228.75 and Rs231 at 6:45pm PST.
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