KARACHI, Oct 20: The State Bank on Monday entered the exchange rate market with such strength that the rupee recovered 2.2 per cent against the dollar.

The rupee made recovery after long time as it has been falling frequently against the greenback.

Currency dealers provided different figures of dollars injected by the SBP in the market ranging from $100 million to $275 million. However, the SBP only confirmed its intervention without providing any details of the amount injected.

“The rupee surprisingly recovered from 83 to 81 against the greenback,” said a currency dealer, who believed that the SBP pumped $275 million during the trading.

However, others said the amount was not more than $100 million.

Currency dealers were surprised as to why the SBP intervened while its own reserves were falling.

Most of the currency dealers said it was one-time intervention by the SBP as the central bank’s reserves were falling on day-to-day basis.

It was difficult for the market to understand the logic of one-time intervention.

“I believe that the State Bank wants to keep dollar at around Rs80-81,” said a currency dealer.

Analysts believe that the country was heading towards the IMF package and hence the market reacted positively by showing confidence in Pak rupee.

Adviser to the prime minister on Finance Shaukat Tareen claimed that a total of over $4 billion was expected to come through different sources, however, no concrete agreement has been signed so far.