KARACHI: The US dollar on Sept 15 (Friday) strengthened against the Pakistani rupee during trading in the open market on Friday.

Currency dealers observed the Pakistani rupee was being traded at Rs299 for selling and Rs296 for buying in the open market, weaker from Thursday’s levels.

The rates are still close to the rupee’s value in the inter-bank market, reducing the premium that is one of the structural benchmarks of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

In the inter-bank market, the rupee was near 296 against the US dollar.

“If the crackdown continues, then we will see further improvement in the currency value,” said a dealer. “However, there is a need to restructure our policies.”