KARACHI: Pakistan’s national currency closed the weekend trading session on a historical note, hitting an all-time low of Rs301 against the US dollar in the interbank market, with the rising demand for greenback among the business community for import payments building pressure on the local currency.
The Pakistani rupee lost its value against the US dollar by Rs3.87 or 1.3 percent during this week, according to the central bank data.
“The pressure on rupee continues to build as demand for dollar to pay letters of credit (LCs) remains on the higher side after the government removed restrictions on imports,” Zafar Sultan Paracha, General Secretary of the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP), told Arab News.
He maintained the current situation was encouraging grey- and black-market trading while urging people to avoid unnecessary buying of dollars “in the larger interest of the country.”
Paracha said the currency was also under pressure due to fears of further energy rate hikes by the current caretaker administration of the country which is thought to have very little political stake in the system.
The Pakistani rupee has lost its valued by Rs12.51 or 4.3 percent in the interbank market since the departure of the previous coalition government of former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier this month.
The country’s stock market closed marginally lower on Friday due to concerns around weaker national currency.
The benchmark KSE100 index shed 79 points to close at 47,671 level at the end of the week on Friday.
“The Pakistani stocks closed lower amid investor concern for weak rupee and dismal economic outlook,” Ahsan Mehanti, CEO of Arif Habib Corporation, said.
“Falling exports and inflation worries amid surging power tariff and falling rupee played a catalyst role in the bearish close,” he added.
Pakistani rupee hits historic low of Rs301 as market demand for US dollar surges
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Pakistani rupee hits historic low of Rs301 as market demand for US dollar surges
- The rupee has lost its value by 4.3 percent since the caretaker government assumed political power in Pakistan
- Unstable national currency has also been impacting equity market trade according to independent experts
Imran Khan not a ‘national security threat,’ ex-PM’s party responds to Pakistan military
- Pakistan’s military spokesperson on Friday described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat”
- PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan says words used by military spokesperson for Khan were “not appropriate”
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Saturday responded to allegations by Pakistan military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry from a day earlier, saying that he was not a “national security threat.”
Chaudhry, who heads the military’s media wing as director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), spoke to journalists on Friday, in which he referred to Khan as a “mentally ill” person several times during the press interaction. Chaudhry described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat.”
The military spokesperson was responding to Khan’s social media post this week in which he accused Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir of being responsible for “the complete collapse of the constitution and rule of law in Pakistan.”
“The people of Pakistan stand with Imran Khan, they stand with PTI,” the party’s secretary-general, Salman Akram Raja, told reporters during a news conference.
“Imran Khan is not a national security threat. Imran Khan has kept the people of this country united.”
Raja said there were several narratives in the country, including those that created tensions along ethnic and sectarian lines, but Khan had rejected all of them and stood with one that the people of Pakistan supported.
PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan, flanked by Raja, criticized the military spokesperson as well, saying his press talk on Thursday had “severely disappointed” him.
“The words that were used [by the military spokesperson] were not appropriate,” Gohar said. “Those words were wrong.”
‘NATURAL OUTCOME’
Speaking to reporters earlier on Saturday, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif defended the military spokesperson’s remarks against Khan.
“When this kind of language is used for individuals as well as for institutions, then a reaction is a natural outcome,” he said.
“The same thing is happening on the Twitter accounts being run in his [Khan’s] name. If the DG ISPR has given any reaction to it, then I believe it was a very measured reaction.”
Khan, who was ousted after a parliamentary vote of confidence in April 2022, blames the country’s powerful military for removing him from power by colluding with his political opponents. Both deny the allegations.
The former prime minister, who has been in prison since August 2023 on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated, also alleges his party was denied victory by the army and his political rivals in the 2024 general election through rigging.
The army and the government both deny his allegations.
