Pakistani rupee recovers against UAE dirham after crackdown on illegal dollar trading

After slumping to 90 against dirham in the open market earlier this week, it recovered to 85 on Friday after the crackdown in the open market

Waheed Abbas

Published: Sat 9 Sep 2023, 1:27 PM

Pakistani rupee has recovered after a freefall against the US dollar and the UAE dirham due to economic weakness in the economy, political instability and demand for the American currency.

The rupee recovered in the past few days after the government launched a crackdown against illegal dollar trade. After slumping to 90 against dirham in the open market earlier this week, it recovered to 85 on Friday after the crackdown in the open market, forcing illegal traders in the South Asian country to sell American currency.

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The rupee was trading at 83.8 against the dirham on xe.com on Saturday morning, after losing nearly 22 rupees against the UAE currency this year alone. The South Asian currency was trading at 61.7 at the beginning of this year.

The rupee also came under pressure after the government allowed imports, pushing the dollar demand substantially higher.

Pakistani Army chief General Syed Asim Munir recently visited Karachi, the commercial capital of Pakistan, and met the businessmen and industrialists in the port city where he assured them of “transparency” in the dollar exchange and interbank rates.

On Saturday, the rupee was trading at 308 against the dollar on xe.com and 301 in the Pakistan open market.

The extreme volatility in the rupee had severely hit the expatriate community due to a surge in inflation in the country, pushing consumer goods prices higher by double-digit rates. This forced them to remit more money despite the dollar and dirham fetching more rupee for the expatriate workers.

Analysts say that economic reforms and export increases are critical to the rupee’s stability going forward.

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