KARACHI: The rupee lost 0.45 per cent to the US dollar during interbank trade on Monday, extending its overnight losses, reported dawn.com.

The local currency further weakened by Rs1.35 against the greenback at Rs297.13 from Rs295.78 in the preceding session, according to data shared by the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP).

In the open market, the dollar was trading as high as Rs307.

According to Khurram Schehzad, the chief executive of financial consultancy firm Alpha Beta Core, imports were opening up gradually and letters of credit (LCs) were being retired.

“Oil is also going up in the international markets and besides, we need to repay foreign debt as well,” he said.

Komal Mansoor of Tresmark believes the rupee depreciation was a “common outcome” of the caretaker set-up. “[It is] more so exacerbated now because of the current account deficit and payment of import backlog,” she said, adding that the market was bracing for the local currency to cross Rs300 against the greenback.

ECAP secretary general Zafar Paracha said the week had commenced with pressure on the rupee and predicted that a similar situation would persist in the short term. He blamed the losses on “mafias of speculation and manipulation”.

“We are moving away from reality and the country has been left at the mercy of these mafias,” Paracha told dawn.com, adding that the Shehbaz Sharif-led government had left all matters to the caretaker set-up.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2023