As dollars keep flooding into Pakistan, the emboldened local rupee bulldozed American currency in the interbank trading on Thursday, skyrocketing by massive three and a half rupees, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the US dollar has been plunged by Rs3.48 against the Pakistani rupee in the morning session but later it recovered some of its lost value and ended the day at Rs276.46, down only by Rs1.02.
On Wednesday, the Pakistani rupee had strengthened further against the US dollar, appreciating by 0.39% in the interbank market. At close, the currency had settled at 277.48, an increase of Rs1.09.
The rise in the value of Pakistani rupee came after massive injections of dollars by Saudi Arabia, UAE and the approval of much-needed loan deal by the IMF.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Wednesday approved a 9-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) for Pakistan for an amount of about $3 billion days after reaching a staff-level agreement with the country. “Today, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a 9-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) for Pakistan for an amount of SDR2,250 million (about $3 billion, or 111 percent of quota) to support the authorities’ economic stabilization program,” the global lender said in a statement.
Taking to Twitter, Prime Minister Shehbaz termed the approval of IMF's SBA a major step forward in the government's efforts to stabilise the economy and achieve macroeconomic stability. "It bolsters Pakistan's economic position to overcome immediate- to medium-term economic challenges, giving next government the fiscal space to chart the way forward," he added.
Hours before IMF board’s decision, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Ishaq Dar had confirmed that Pakistan had received one billion dollars from United Arab Emirates (UAE). He said the UAE had transferred one billion dollars to the account of the State Bank of Pakistan.
He said on behalf of the Prime Minister and the Army Chief, he was grateful to the UAE leadership for depositing one billion dollars to the State Bank of Pakistan's account.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said after receiving the amount from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves have increased by 3 billion dollars in just two days.
The federal finance minister also confirmed that yesterday, two billion dollars were received from Saudi Arabia which supported the Pakistani economy.
From Ashraf Khan