KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee (PKR) continued taking a beat from the US dollar on Monday in intraday trade as it has lost 65 paisa.
The greenback was being quoted around 203 against the local currency compared to Rs202.35 in the previous session close in the interbank market.
Meanwhile, the KSE 100-index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) also witnessed bearish trend on Monday, losing over 500 points reaching 41,494 points against 42,014 points on the last working day.
The rupee dived as a relentless surge in global crude oil prices raised concerns about a sustained rise in imported inflation and widening current account deficit, while fast-depleting foreign exchange reserves were also hurt.
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The country is facing a balance of payments crisis with the central bank’s foreign exchange reserves falling to $9.2 billion, enough to cover 1.35 months of import payments, as well as double-digit inflation.
The government has presented a budget for next fiscal year aimed at curtailing fiscal deficit and securing funding from the IMF.
The key objectives of the budget are reduction in fiscal deficit, maintaining primary balance at sustainable levels, mobilisation of resources to expand tax base, protection of social sector by supporting lower/middle class of the society.
The government has set gross domestic product (GDP) growth target at 5% for FY2023, lower than 5.97% achieved in the outgoing year. The average inflation target is fixed at 11.5%, compared with 11.9% in FY2022.
