Karachi: Amid the political uncertainty in the country and depleting forex reserves due to an imbalance in payments, pressure on the Pakistani rupee continues mounting. On Thursday, the PKR fell to 239.94 against the USD in the interbank.
During intraday trading, it fell to almost 241 against the greenback.
However, it later closed at 239.94, depreciating by 1.63%.
Interbank closing #ExchangeRate for todayhttps://t.co/3HKHwEmKLf pic.twitter.com/OZl2VqDeLR
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) July 28, 2022
Pakistan posts $17.4 CAD during FY22
Pakistan’s current account deficit (CAD) crossed the $17 billion mark during the fiscal year 2022, a staggering 531% increase in the balance of payments compared to the imbalance of $2.8 billion recorded during FY21.
According to a report published by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the record imbalance in payment during FY22 is the highest since FY18, when it crossed $19.1 billion.
The report by the central bank also shows that the PML-N-led coalition government posted a CAD of $4.323bn in the April-June period of 2021-22, which was the second highest quarterly deficit of FY22.
In June alone, the CAD swelled to $2.27 billion compared to May’s $1.4 billion during the fiscal year that ended on June 30.
The State Bank said that this surge in current account deficit during June, despite higher exports and remittances, was due to a surge in oil imports. It said that 3.3 million metric tons of oil were imported in June, 33% higher than in May.
