Islamabad: The Pakistani rupee (PKR) continued its upward momentum against the US dollar (USD) during intraday trading in the interbank market on Wednesday.
At around 10:50 am, the rupee was quoted at Rs265.09 after an appreciation of Rs2.25.
The gain follows the significant strides the rupee made against the greenback on Tuesday, settling at 267.34 against foreign currency, an appreciation of Rs2.1 or 0.79%.
The bounce back of the PKR continued as the Pakistani government is continuing efforts to appease the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the revival of the long-stalled ninth-review EFF program under which Pakistan is to receive $1.18 billion.
On Tuesday, the federal government of Pakitan decided to increase the standard general sales tax to 18%, up from 17%, and to increase the federal excise duty (FED) on cigarettes with immediate effect to collect Rs115 billion out of the planned Rs170 billion mini-budget.
Under the chair of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the federal cabinet Tuesday approved the Finance Supplementary Bill 2023 to implement another condition set by the global lender for the revival of the derailed $6.5 billion program after President Arif Alvi refused to promulgate it via an ordinance.
After getting approval from the federal cabinet on a mini-budget in the shape of the Tax Laws Amendment Bill 2023, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) issued the Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) for hiking the GST rate from standard 17% to 18% and increasing the Federal Excise Duty (FED) on cigarettes.
The FBR notified to increase the FED on expensive brands from Rs6.5 per cigarette to Rs16.5 – an increase of 153%. For less expensive brands, the per stick increase is from Rs2.55 to Rs5.05 – an increase of 98%.
