KARACHI: Pakistan’s currency traders and analysts blamed the county’s rising import bill for the ongoing depreciation of the national currency as the rupee lost 0.50 percent of its value before closing at an all-time low against the US dollar on Tuesday.
The Pak rupee closed the trading session at Rs168.94 in the inter-bank market, beating the previous record low of Rs168.87 in August 2020 while registering a decline of Rs0.84 or 0.50 percent, according to the State Bank of Pakistan.
The rupee was trading at Rs169 against the US dollar in open market on Tuesday, traders said.
“The rupee is constantly under pressure mainly due to external payments as the country continues to import food, energy and vehicles etc.,” Malik Bostan, chairman of the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan, told Arab News.
Earlier this month, Bostan told Arab News that Pakistan’s national currency was also under pressure since about $2 million had been flowing out of the country after the fall of Kabul on August 15 due to the shortage of foreign currency deposit in the neighboring state.
Since May 2021, Pakistan’s currency has lost its value by 10 percent from a high of Rs152.28. The currency has shed 6.7 percent since June 2021, according to Arif Habib Limited.
The country’s central bank has also stayed away from the currency market, saying it wants to adhere to a market-based exchange rate policy. Previously, the State Bank of Pakistan used to sell dollars in the market to stabilize the currency.
“In market-based exchange management, central bank only intervenes if there are abnormal currency fluctuations,” Muhammad Sohail, chief executive officer of Topline Securities, told Arab News.
“Currently, the Pak rupee is falling due to the rising import bill and uncertainty regarding the IMF [International Monetary Fund] deal,” he said, adding: “I think that market forces should decide [the exchange rate parity].”
The central bank is scheduled to announce its money policy next week on September 20. Analysts expect the bank to increase its policy rate by 25 basis points (bps).
Following the rupee depreciation, the country’s stock market also reacted negatively, and the benchmark KSE 100 Index closed at 46,891 points, showing a decline of 379 points.
Pakistani rupee hits all-time low against US dollar amid rising import bill
https://arab.news/9sjm6
Pakistani rupee hits all-time low against US dollar amid rising import bill
- The rupee closed Tuesday’s trading session at Rs168.94 in the inter-bank market, breaking the past record low of Rs168.87 in August 2020
- The Pakistani national currency was trading at Rs169 against the US dollar in the country’s open market during the day
Pakistan opposition to continue protest over ex-PM Khan’s health amid conflicting reports
- Pakistan’s government insists that the ex-premier’s eye condition has improved
- Khan’s personal doctor says briefed on his condition but cannot confirm veracity
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s opposition alliance on Monday vowed to continue their protest sit-in at parliament and demanded “clarity” over the health of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, following conflicting medical reports about his eye condition.
The 73-year-old former cricket star-turned-politician has been held at the high-security Adiala prison in Rawalpindi since 2023. Concerns arose about his health last week when a court-appointed lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar, was asked to visit Khan at the jail to assess his living conditions. Safdar reported that Khan had suffered “severe vision loss” in his right eye due to central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), leaving him with just 15 percent sight in the affected eye.
On Sunday, a team of doctors from various hospitals visited the prison to examine Khan’s eye condition, according to the Adiala jail superintendent, who later submitted his report in the court. On Monday, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi observed that based on reports from the prison authorities and the amicus curiae, Khan’s “living conditions in jail do not presently exhibit any perverse aspects.” It noted that Khan had “generally expressed satisfaction with the prevailing conditions of his confinement” and had not sought facilities beyond the existing level of care.
Having carefully perused both reports in detail, the bench observed that their general contents and the overall picture emerging therefrom are largely consistent. The opposition alliance, which continued to stage its sit-in for a fourth consecutive day on Monday, held a meeting at the parliament building on Monday evening to deliberate on the emerging situation and discuss their future course of action.
“The sit-in will continue till there is clarity on the matter of [Khan's] health,” Sher Ali Arbab, a lawmaker from Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who has been participating in the sit-in, told Arab News, adding that PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan and Opposition Leader in Senate Raja Nasir Abbas had briefed them about their meeting with doctors who had visited Khan on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters outside parliament, Gohar said the doctors had informed them that Khan’s condition had improved.
“They said, 'There has been a significant and satisfactory improvement.' With that satisfactory improvement, we also felt satisfied,” he said, noting that the macular thickness in Khan’s eye had reportedly dropped from 550 to 300 microns, a sign of subsiding swelling.
Gohar said the party did not want to politicize Khan’s health.
“We are not doctors, nor is this our field,” he said, noting that Khan’s personal physician in Lahore, Dr. Aasim Yusuf, and his eye specialist Dr. Khurram Mirza had also sought input from the Islamabad-based medical team.
“Our doctors also expressed satisfaction over the report.”
CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS
Despite Gohar’s cautious optimism, Khan’s personal physician, Dr. Yusuf, issued a video message on Monday, saying he could neither “confirm nor deny the veracity” of the government’s claims.
“Because I have not seen him myself and have not been able to participate in his care... I’m unable to confirm what we have been told,” Yusuf said.
He appealed to authorities to grant him or fellow physician, Dr. Faisal Sultan, immediate access to Khan, arguing that the ex-premier should be moved to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad for specialist care.
Speaking to Arab News, PTI’s central information secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said Khan’s sister and their cousin, Dr. Nausherwan Burki, will speak to media on Tuesday to express their views about the situation.
The government insists that Khan’s condition has improved.
“His eye [condition] has improved and is better than before,” State Minister Talal Chaudhry told the media in a brief interaction on Monday.
“The Supreme Court of Pakistan is involved, and doctors are involved. What medicine he receives, whether he needs to be hospitalized or sent home, these decisions are made by doctors. Neither lawyers nor any political party will decide this.”
