Rupee kicks off 2022 with 0.14% decline against US dollar
January 04, 2022
- Rupee closes the day at Rs176.75 against US dollar in interbank market.
- Decline can be attributed to widening trade deficit.
- The rupee closed 2021 with a loss of over 10%.
KARACHI: After losing over 10% last year, the Pakistani rupee kicked off 2022 with a loss of 0.14% on Tuesday.
Today marked the first day of trading of the new calendar year as a nationwide banking holiday was observed on Monday.
According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the local currency closed the day at Rs176.75 against the greenback in the interbank market.
The rupee closed 2021 at Rs176.51 against the greenback.
The rupee has maintained the downtrend for the past seven months. It has lost 16.07% (or Rs24.48) to date, compared to the 22-month high of Rs152.27 recorded in May 2021.
With a fresh rise of 0.14%, the rupee has depreciated by 12.19% (or Rs19.21) since the start of the current fiscal year on July 1, 2021, data released by the central bank revealed.
The decline can be attributed to the widening current account deficit and ever-increasing import bills.
According to the provisional data released by the Ministry of Commerce, the trade deficit for the first half of the ongoing fiscal year was up nearly 100% at $24.78 billion compared to $12.36 billion in the previous fiscal year's corresponding half.
It is pertinent to mention here that the local unit hit an all-time low of Rs178.24 on December 29.
