The rupee, which has been gaining versus the dollar for more than a week, did so on Friday in the interbank market.
By 10:05am, the local currency had increased by Rs2.15 (or 0.95%) from yesterday’s close of Rs226.15 to reach Rs224 when measured against the US dollar.
The PKR is stable today, according to Saad bin Naseer, director of Mettis Global, a web-based financial data and analytics platform, because inflows are on the way (export revenues and remittances are being deposited), and there is no interbank panic.
However, he asserted that the government must investigate the “great game” that the money changers were engaged in since they were harming and defrauding the general populace.
“When the rupee was falling to 240 in the interbank, money changers were selling dollars at 250-255 in the open market. Today, money changers are buying dollars at 210/215 and selling it in government Nostros for 225/226,” he said.
According to Naseer, fresh capital inflows will cause the rupee to gain much more over the next few days.
The rupee had been steadily losing value since July 15 and on July 28 it hit a record low of 239.94. However, after July 29, it has changed course, and as of yesterday, its value had increased by Rs14.15 (Aug 4).
The highest increase occurred on Wednesday, August 3, when the rupee experienced a record-breaking rise of Rs9.59, or 4.19 percent.
Currency dealers believe that the changes won’t be as wild as they were in July, when the dollar gained more than 13 percent versus the local currency in a single month, which has stabilised exchange rates.
