KARACHI: Dollar has taken another surge against Pakistani rupee reaching a record high of Rs169 in interbank on Friday.
The rupee has lost Rs2.87 further against the dollar after Thursday.
On Thursday, the rupee had slid 2.8 per cent or Rs5.08 from Wednesday’s close of Rs161.60 due to interest rate cuts and repatriation of hot money amid increasing uncertainty in global markets fuelled by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Ongoing higher volatility in the currency is driven by supply and demand conditions in the market,” the chief spokesman of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) told The News when approached.
The rupee had remained stable, trading in the range of 154-155 between October 2019 and March 2020 under the market-based exchange rate regime. It started depreciating from earlier this month and has lost a cumulative Rs14 so far.
The SBP has slashed the interest rate by cumulative 225 basis points to 11% this week to counter the impact of a virtual lockdown all over the country.
