The Pakistani rupee saw marginal improvement against the US dollar in the open market on Friday, as the local currency also strengthened in the inter-bank market.

During the day, currency dealers Business Recorder reached out to said the rupee was being quoted at 285.50 for buying and 288.50 for buying purposes for customers.

However, at the ending of trading, the currency closed at Rs285.25 for buying and Rs288.25 for selling purposes, according to data provided by the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP).

On Thursday, the rupee had closed at 285.75 for buying and 288.75 for selling.

In the inter-bank market, the rupee registered back-to-back gains against the US dollar, as it appreciated 0.31% to settle at 286.50, an increase of Re0.88.

The gap between rates in the inter-bank and open markets is required to be less than 1.25% under one of the structural benchmarks set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The IMF staff and Pakistani authorities reached a staff-level agreement on the first review of the IMF Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) program on Wednesday.

“After months of hard work, we have successfully reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF on the first review of the $3 billion SBA,” said Caretaker Minister for Finance, Shamshad Akhtar while addressing the Future Summit on Thursday.

“This is a very positive development for the economy and will support our efforts for macroeconomic stability,” she said.

Shamshad was of the view that the IMF SBA and support from other development partners provide the Pakistani authorities opportunity to get the country’s economy back on track.