Pakistani Rupee - Exchange Rate

Exchange Rate

The Rupee was pegged to the British Pound until 1982, when the government of General Zia-ul-Haq changed it to managed float. As a result, the rupee devalued by 38.5% between 1982/83 and 1987/88 and the cost of importing raw material increased rapidly, causing huge pressure on Pakistan finances and damaging much of the industrial base built up by ZA government. The Pakistani rupee depreciated against the US dollar until the turn of the century, when Pakistan's large current-account surplus pushed the value of the rupee up versus the dollar. Pakistan's central bank then stabilised the exchange rate by lowering interest rates and buying dollars, in order to preserve the country's export competitiveness. The year 2008 has been termed a disastrous year for the rupee as until August 2008 it had lost 23% of its value since December, 2007 to a record low of 79.2 against US Dollar. The major reasons for this depreciation a huge current and trade accounts deficits had been built up since the credit boom in Pakistan post 2002. Due to rising militancy in the NWFP and FATA areas FDI began to fall and the structural problems of the balance of payment where exposed, a disastrous situation occurred where Foreign Reserves fell to as low as 2 billion US dollars. However by February 2011 Forex reserves had recovered at set a new record of 17 billion dollars. Of the 17 Bllion USD forex >10 Billion is borrowed money and Interest applicable.