The volatile Pakistani rupee (PKR), which made the greatest increase of 3.9% over five working days to reach 219.92 PKR to a dollar on expectations of significant foreign currency inflows, was named the “world’s best performing currency” in the week that concluded on October 7.
“The rupee remained the best performing currency on a week-on-week basis,” The Express Tribune quoted Arif Habib Limited Head of Research Tahir Abbas as saying.
Since the current Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced his return to the country by ending a five-year self-exile last month, the Pakistani rupee has been winning for 11 straight working days.
Evidently, Dar continued his previous strategy of defending the rupee from the assault of the US currency after assuming power. He thought the rupee was undervalued at its all-time low of roughly 240 to the dollar in July and suspected commercial banks of manipulating the rupee’s value to advance their own interests.
With the US dollar strengthening against many other major world currencies, the price of crude oil rising back to over $90 per barrel, worries about a European recession, a decline in Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves, and no discernible increase in exports, there is widespread speculation that the rupee will continue to decline.
Prior to this, the home currency continued to be extremely volatile, bouncing back and forth between being the best and worst performing currencies in the world during the course of the previous seven days.
Prior to Dar’s departure, the rupee fell by about 12% over the course of 15 consecutive working days, reaching a record low of about 240 PKR in late July due to a higher chance of debt repayment default, such as in the case of a $1 billion Sukuk expiring on December 5, 2022.
Dar also attributed some of the turmoil in the domestic economy to Miftah Ismail’s policies.
Ismail, though, had previously received plaudits for making difficult choices that kept Pakistan from defaulting and convinced the IMF to renew its loan programme, according to The Express Tribune.
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