KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee on Thursday hit a new low as it dropped below the 300 level for the first time against the US dollar in the interbank.
At close, the rupee settled at 300.22, a decrease of Rs0.58 or 0.19%, as per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
On Wednesday, the rupee had fallen to the then record low against the US dollar, as it settled at 299.64.
Interbank closing #ExchangeRate for today https://t.co/Jxm8IWczLi#SBPExchangeRate pic.twitter.com/w9i2WBsU9z
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) August 24, 2023
The currency has come under renewed pressure after the authorities decided to lift import curbs, a key demand of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In the open market, the US dollar continued to hit new heights against a weakening Pakistani rupee, and was hovering at the 315 level during trading. The gap between rates in the inter-bank and open markets is required to be less than 1.25% under one of the structural benchmarks set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In a key development, senior officials at the Ministry of Economic Affairs informed Business Recorder that the staff level agreement on the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) provided a comfort level to multilaterals/bilaterals and resultantly inflows improved during the first month of current fiscal year 2023-24.