KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee has emerged as Asia’s best-performing currency against the US dollar over the past year, with foreign exchange inflows of $8 billion through the Roshan Digital Account playing a key role.
While thanking the overseas Pakistanis, the central bank said that since the introduction of the Roshan digital account in September 2020, overseas Pakistanis have remitted more than $8 billion through it in 45 months. A surge in DA inflows is being recorded, as overseas Pakistanis are sending remittances to support their families.
According to data from Topline Research, the Pakistani currency has improved by 3.1 percent over the past year to Rs 278.12 per dollar in the MSCI Asia Emerging and Frontiers Market Index on Friday, improving the value of the rupee. The main reasons are RDA inflows, remittances, stable exports, loans from IMF, World Bank and other countries and rollover of loans.
The Sri Lankan currency, ranked second in Asia, saw an improvement of 2.7 percent while the currencies of all other countries, including India, China, Vietnam and Bangladesh, saw a decline of up to 5.6 percent. It has remained stable at around Rs 278.50 per dollar, but experts are divided on the real value of the currency.
Ashfaq Tola bets on the value of the rupee at 235 rupees per dollar, several currency dealers say that if the central bank had not taken the currency from the open market, the rupee would have been worth 240 to 250 rupees, other groups of experts say. He says that the value of the rupee is being increased by imposing restrictions on imports, which is affecting the economic activities in the country.
Tracemark says that the rupee will depreciate by Rs 2-3 every month after July, while the IMF has projected the rupee to depreciate to Rs 329 in the next 13 months.
A financial expert, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Pakistan is paying huge profits on New Pakistan Certificates to bring in RDA inflows, which is causing the economy to collapse.
He said that the increase in foreign investment in April is a deception. In fact, because Pakistan has banned the transfer of profits of foreign companies to their countries, those companies are forced to invest in Pakistan. , which is being portrayed as an increase in foreign investment, however, the rupee will depreciate sharply whenever Pakistan repatriates profits and normalizes imports.
