RECORDER REVIEW

KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee continued its marginal gain against the US dollar for another week, appreciating 0.03 percent in the inter-bank market.

The local unit closed at 277.32 against the greenback, a gain of Re0.09 from 277.41 it had closed at a week earlier. BMI, a Fitch Solutions Company, pushed back its forecast for a depreciation of the Pakistani rupee to 2027, revising its end-2026 projection to Rs278 per US dollar from Rs288 previously, citing improved foreign exchange buffers, tight monetary policy, and better access to international capital markets.

The firm now expects the rupee to remain around Rs278/USD through 2026, before weakening to Rs292/USD by end-2027 as concerns over export competitiveness and the widening trade deficit put pressure on the currency.

The inflow of overseas workers’ remittances into Pakistan stood at USD3.656 billion in August 2026, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data showed.

In terms of growth, remittances increased by 16.5 percent on a year-on-year basis and 0.7 percent on a month-on-month basis.

Foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP increased by USD1.21 billion to USD18.33 billion during the week ended September 4, 2026, mainly due to the receipt of government commercial loan proceeds.

In its weekly reserves statement, the SBP said the country’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves stood at USD23.72 billion. Of these, commercial banks held USD5.39 billion in net foreign exchange reserves.

Open-market rates

In the open market, the PKR gained 7 paise for buying and 10 paise for selling against USD, closing at 278.22 and 279.05, respectively.

Against Euro, the PKR gained 42 paise for buying and 28 paise for selling, closing at 322.11 and 325.04, respectively.

Against UAE Dirham, the PKR gained 2 paise for buying and 1 paisa for selling, closing at 75.66 and 76.28, respectively.

Against Saudi Riyal, the PKR lost 1 paisa for buying and gained 1 paisa for selling, closing at 73.96 and 74.48, respectively.