KARACHI: On Thursday, September 7th, the exchange rate of the US dollar against the Pakistani rupee (PKR) in the open market witnessed a notable decline, dropping by five rupees to reach Rs307, compared to its previous rate of Rs312.
In addition to this, the US dollar also experienced a decrease of Rs2.4 paise in the interbank market, ultimately closing at Rs304.94. To provide context, on the previous day, Wednesday, the US dollar had been valued at Rs306.98.
In a key development, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), in a bid to strengthen controls amid the massive fall in rupee’s value in the open market, decided to introduce structural reforms in the Exchange Companies’ (ECs) sector on Wednesday.
“As part of these reforms, leading banks actively engaged in foreign exchange business will establish wholly-owned Exchange Companies (EC) to cater to the legitimate foreign exchange needs of general public,” said the SBP in a statement.
Globally, a buoyant US dollar pushed the yen to a 10-month on Thursday and kept the euro and sterling pinned near three-month lows, as investors placed their faith in a still-resilient US economy even amid a dour global growth outlook.
The greenback scaled a fresh top of 147.865 yen in early Asia trade, its highest since last November.
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was last 0.05% higher at 104.91, holding on to some of its gains from the previous session after scaling a six-month peak on news that the US services sector unexpectedly gained steam in August.
