The Pakistani rupee maintained its momentum against the US dollar in the open market on Wednesday, as the local currency also continued to gain in the inter-bank market.

During the day, currency dealers Business Recorder reached out to said the rupee was being quoted at 286.75 for selling and 283.75 for buying purposes for customers.

At the end of trading, the currency closed at 286.50 for selling and 283.50 for buying purposes, according to data provided by the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP).

On Tuesday, the currency had closed at 287.25 for selling and 284.25 for buying.

In the inter-bank market, the rupee continued its positive run against the US dollar for the fifth consecutive session on Wednesday, as it appreciated 0.23% to settle at 285.13, an increase of Re0.66.

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).

In a key development, the IMF staff and Pakistani authorities reached a staff-level agreement last week on the first review of the IMF Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) program.

This outcome was critical, given that in spite of disbursement of pledged assistance by multilateral and bilateral partners, Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves remain disturbingly low at $7.4 billion on 10 November 2023, which is less than three months of imports.