KARACHI, Sept 30: Rupee ended near a record low on Tuesday amid import payments and dealers said the currency would remain under pressure on lack of inflows and weak economic fundamentals.

Dealers said the rupee closed at 78.30/40 to the dollar compared with Monday’s close of 78.10/20.

“There were many payments today but since it was the end of the quarter, rupee liquidity was very tight and the rupee did not weaken by too much,” said a currency dealer.

Dealers said there were some oil and wheat payments due on Tuesday.

The rupee traded at a record low of 78.55 rupees to the dollar on Sept 22. It has lost 21.3 per cent against the dollar since the beginning of the year.

Dealers said there was no news of the inflows that were expected in the coming weeks, including $1 billion from the World Bank, $500 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or the Saudi oil facility.

Sakib Sherani, a bank economist who is serving on the prime

minister’s economic advisory council, said the country faced a total financing gap of $7 billion to cover a projected current account deficit of $14 billion for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2009.

He said Pakistan needs a capital infusion of $3 billion to $4 billion “up front” to stabilise its economy.

Sherani, an economist with an international bank in Islamabad, described the projected financing gap for the current account as a “ballpark figure,” that took into account already expected financing, foreign direct investment and portfolio flows.The current account deficit widened to $2.572 billion in July and August which is equivalent to about 1.6 per cent of the GDP, and compares with a full-year target of 6.0 per cent of the GDP.

Data released last week showed total foreign currency reserves had fallen to $8.82 billion in the week ending on Sept 20, down $90 million from the previous week.

Dealers said there was also pressure due to security concerns.—Reuters