US dollar dips to Rs217.25 as Pakistani currency continues recovery

KARACHI – The US dollar continued to lose ground against the Pakistani rupee during intraday trade in the interbank market amid a decline in import bills and reviving hopes for an IMF loan.

During Thursday's intraday trade, the greenback dropped by Rs4.66 and was traded at Rs217.25 against the rupee. The dollar closed at Rs221.91 on Wednesday in the interbank market.

The local currency bounced back after the long losing streak that took the rupee to a historic low level against the dollar due to depleting reserves and uncertainty over the revival of the IMF’s loan programme.

Last week, Exchange Association Chairman Malik Bostan hoped that the rupee continued to strengthen in the upcoming days. He said that cutting the import bill by a whopping $2 billion was a great achievement of the incumbent government.

He predicted that the dollar could drop further after IMF released the loan tranche of $1.2 billion.

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