KARACHI (October 01 2002) : After a long fight for two years the dollar slipped down into the band of Rs 58 and broke the barrier of Rs 59 in the kerb market on Monday.
At the closing session, the moneychangers reported that the US currency slipped to Rs 58.98 as buying rate. However, the selling rate was Rs 59.03.
In September 2000, the greenback was available at Rs 58.96 and since then it never had gone below Rs 59.
Despite all efforts by the State Bank to stop the steep decline of the dollar against Pak rupee, the gradual fall had started giving signal that the greenback might lose more weight in near future.
However, in the inter-bank forex market, which also witnessed some decline of 2 to 4 paisa, the dollar remained above Rs 59.10.
“Buyer is not available in our market. The news from Washington that the US paid 317 million dollars strengthened Pakistan's reserves position and touched 8.19 billion dollars,” said a moneychanger.
The moneychangers said that the remittances would go further up at the time of Eid season, which traditionally cuts dollar price by Re 1 every year.
In the first two months of the current fiscal year, remittances reached to 699 million dollars, which was 285 percent higher than the same period of last year.
The State Bank has been trying not to allow the dollar any sharp decline but bankers on Monday said that most of the government owned banks were selling dollars at cheaper rate, thus allowing the rupee to appreciate.
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September 1-2000 – $ 1= Rs 58.95 Rs 59.05
September 2002
