US dollar's free fall against rupee continues

KARACHI: The US dollar continued its declining trend in the interbank and open market on Thursday after the greenback saw a historic decline of over Rs9 on Wednesday, ARY NEWS reported.

According to forex dealers, the US dollar slipped by Rs4.02 at the start of the day to trade at Rs224.78 as the banks sold it at Rs226.28.

In the open market, the greenback traded between Rs223 and Rs224.

The rupee on Wednesday made a massive comeback against the US dollar in the interbank and open market, a day after the IMF said that the country has fulfilled its last condition of raising the levy on fuel prices.

According to forex dealers, the US dollar lost Rs9.58 today in the interbank against the rupee and traded at Rs228.80 while the banks are selling the greenback at Rs229.

In the open market, the US dollar traded at Rs225.50 after witnessing a reduction in value by Rs13.

Interbank closing #ExchangeRate for todayhttps://t.co/KyRSLkDLEy pic.twitter.com/5NrcLUqkT2

— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) August 3, 2022

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday confirmed that Pakistan has achieved all the set targets for the revival of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme.

Exclusively talking to ARY News, International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) resident representative in Islamabad, Esther Perez Ruiz said Pakistan has achieved all the financial targets set by the fund and the last action was accomplished on July 31 by extending the levy on petrol.

Read More: US dollar declines to Rs237 in interbank market

Ruiz said the 7th and 8th reviews have been completed and the IMF Executive Board will meet in the third week of August.

Esther Perez hoped that Pakistan will take steps to narrow the funding gap till the board’s meeting.

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Bangladesh seeking IMF loan but economy not in trouble

Bangladesh has asked to start talks on a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) but will take it only if conditions are favourable, the finance minister said on Wednesday, adding its macroeconomic conditions were fine.

The country’s $416 billion economy has been one of the fastest-growing in the world for years, but rising energy and food prices because of the Russia-Ukraine war have inflated its import bill and the current account deficit.

“A letter was sent to the IMF seeking assistance, but we have not mentioned how much we want,” Minister A.H.M. Mustafa Kamal told reporters.

“We are waiting to see their conditions. If the IMF conditions are in favour of the country and compatible with our development policy, we’ll go for it, otherwise not. Seeking a loan from the IMF does not mean Bangladesh’s economy is in bad shape.”

A senior IMF official had told Reuters on Tuesday that Bangladesh had asked it to start talks on a new loan under the global creditor’s Resilience and Sustainability Trust. Such funds are capped at 150 per cent of a country’s quota or, in Bangladesh’s case, a maximum of $1 billion.

Bangladesh’s Daily Star newspaper reported on Tuesday that the country wanted $4.5bn from the IMF.

Bangladesh’s economic mainstay is its export-oriented garments industry, which could suffer if sales fall in its main markets in Europe and the United States because of a slowdown in the global economy.

After garments, remittances are the second highest source of foreign currency for Bangladesh.

The South Asian country’s foreign exchange reserves fell to $39.67bn as of July 20 — sufficient for just over five months worth of imports — from $45.5bn a year earlier.

Its July to May current account deficit was $17.2bn, compared with a deficit of $2.78bn in the year-earlier period, as its trade deficit widened and remittances fell.

Sri Lanka and Pakistan are the other two South Asian countries to have sought IMF support this year.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/bangladesh-seeking-imf-loan-but-economy-not-in-trouble/?feed_id=3102&_unique_id=62e1dc4350564