Rupee Loses Ground Against US Dollar for Second Straight Day

The Pakistani rupee (PKR) fell against the US dollar (USD) in the inter-bank market for the second straight day on Tuesday.   At close of the day, the PKR settled at 278.27 against the greenback, down Rs. 0.1 or 0.04 percent from its previous close of 278.17.  In a major development, Pakistan’s current account balance posted a surplus of $729 million in November 2024, the highest in nearly 10 years. This took the current account balance for 5MFY25 to a surplus of $944 million, a significant improvement on the current account deficit of $1.67 billion posted during the same period of FY24.  In another related development, Pakistan’s Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) clocked in at 102.92 in November 2024, the highest since April 2024 when it clocked in at 104.4.  The Pakistani rupee stood at 292.1445 against the Euro (EUR) in the inter-bank market today.  The rupee stood at 353.4479 against the British Pound (GBP), 176.7031 against the Australia dollar (AUD) and 194.9848 against the Canadian dollar (CAD).  Further, the rupee closed at 75.7617 against the UAE Dirham (AED) and 74.0618 against the Saudi Riyal (SAR) in the inter-bank market.