KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee underwent another fall on Thursday, closing in on the 175 level against the US dollar in the inter-bank market.<\/p>\n
As per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the local currency closed at Rs174.67 against the greenback, a decline of nearly Re1 or 0.52%.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the former finance minister Miftah Ismail had cited four major reasons, which according to him are the main reasons for the “recent precipitous decline in the value of the rupee.”<\/p>\n
Among these were uncertainty about the renewal of the IMF programme, the largest trade deficit and fastest-growing imports in history, the fourth-highest inflation rate among major countries and a rapid increase in the money supply.<\/p>\n
It is pertinent to mention here that the local currency closed at an all-time low of Rs175.73 against the greenback on November 12.<\/p>\n
Earlier, AA Commodities Director Adnan Agar had noted that there was quite a lot of uncertainty regarding the IMF programme.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe IMF programme has been taking time because of a condition regarding the autonomy of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP),\u201d he had said, adding that a delay in the deposit of $3 billion funds from Saudi Arabia also contributed to the uncertainty.<\/p>\n
Agar had mentioned that if uncertainty continues till next week, the currency will lose further ground.<\/p>\n
He had predicted that the currency will close the calendar year 2021 above Rs170.<\/p>\n