Rupee holds steady ahead of IMF review

•  Rupee closes at Rs176.41 with a meagre gain of 0.01%.
  
• Traders are hopeful that IMF board will clear the sixth review.
• “We also see some decline in the importer demand.” a dealer says.

KARACHI: The rupee steadied against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Wednesday as traders looked to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for clarity on sixth review of $6 billion loan programme.

The IMF board is scheduled to take Pakistan’s case today and traders are hopeful that the IMF board will clear the sixth review as the country has met all the conditions needed to get the $1 billion loan tranche from the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility.

The rupee closed at Rs176.41 with a meagre gain of 0.01% against the greenback compared to a close of Rs176.43 on Tuesday.

After posting a fresh gain of 0.01%, the Pakistani rupee has depreciated by 11.97% (or Rs18.87) since the start of the current fiscal year on July 1, 2021, data released by the central bank revealed.

The rupee has maintained the downtrend for the past nine months. It has lost 15.85% (or Rs24.14) to date, compared to the record high of Rs152.27 recorded in May 2021.

Currency dealers believe the local unit would rally in the ongoing week on growing investors' optimism about Pakistan’s economic prospects after the government fulfilled all requirements for the resumption of the IMF loan programme.

A trader added: “For the next couple of weeks the rupee may rally supported by the IMF approval and the expected $1 billion inflows from the issuance of dollar-denominated Sukuk."

“We saw some decline in the importer demand and at the same time the exporters sold dollars, which improved the supply of the greenback in the market,” a foreign exchange dealer said.