KARACHI: The US dollar strengthened against the Pakistani rupee on Monday, gaining 1.31 in its value in the interbank trading.
Market data showed at around 11 am, the rupee was being quoted at 285.96, a decrease of Rs1.31 against the US dollar in the inter-bank market. This comes after the Pakistani rupee tumbled by 23 paisas on Friday, settling the day’s trade at PKR 284.65 per US dollar.
The currency fell in four of the five sessions with the only gain on Thursday, the day when a finance ministry official said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had indicated that it has received a financing assurance from Saudi Arabia.
Experts say the market has shown less confidence in the local unit owing to political uncertainty, delay in the IMF program, and dwindling foreign reserves. The hopes of the market were further dampened following the news that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has cancelled his US visit to attend the spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.
It may be recalled that on Saturday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the staff-level agreement between Pakistan and the IMF was taking time solely because of the delay in confirmation of funding from a friendly country.
