KARACHI: The dollar recorded a gain of five paisas against the rupee on Wednesday and touched the new high of Rs178.24 in the interbank foreign exchange market, dealers said.
A day ago, the exchange rate ended at Rs178.19 against the dollar, which was the previous record high of the greenback.
The dealers said the dollar demand persists during the day for import and corporate payments. The demand for the foreign currency is usually high by the end of every quarter, they said.
Foreign companies operating in Pakistan repatriate their profits and dividends to their parent companies by the close of every quarter.
The dealers also said the international oil prices were on the rise putting pressure on the dollar demand.
Pakistan is the net importer of petroleum products. The rise in the oil prices in the international markets would further increase the import payments burden.
The country’s import bill already increased to $33 billion during the first five months of the current fiscal year. The mounting import payments also widened the trade deficit, which was swollen by 112 per cent to $20.65 billion during the period under review, compared with the deficit of $9.72 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year.
Similarly, the wide trade deficit resulted in $7 billion current account deficit during the first five months (July-November) 2021/22. The current account posted a surplus of $1.87 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
The dealers said the latest curbs imposed by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had prevented the local currency from a major fall.
The SBP on December 19, 2021 imposed restrictions on the foreign exchange buying by individuals from the open market to discourage speculative gains. As per the restrictions, an individual can buy a maximum of $10,000/day and $100,000 in a year.
The rupee remained under pressure since the start of the current fiscal year. The local currency fell Rs20.70, or 13.16 per cent from June 30, 2021 closing of Rs157.54 to the closing of Rs178.24 on December 29, 2021.
Meanwhile, in the open market, the buying and selling of the dollar was recorded at Rs179.60/Rs180.80 at 3:10pm PST.
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