The Pakistani rupee closed higher against the US dollar in the open market on Thursday, while the local currency weakened in the inter-bank market.

During the day, currency dealers Business Recorder reached out to said the rupee was being quoted at 286.50 for selling and 283.50 for buying purposes for customers, unchanged from the previous day close.

However, at the end of trading, the currency closed at 283 for buying and 286 for selling purposes, according to data provided by the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP).

On Wednesday, the local unit had closed at 286.50 for selling and 283.50 for buying purposes.

In the inter-bank market, the rupee ended its five-session appreciation run against the US dollar as it lost 0.05% in the inter-bank market on Thursday. As per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the currency settled at 285.27, a decrease 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).

The South Asian nation is operating under a caretaker government after a $3 billion IMF loan programme was approved in July to avert a sovereign debt default.

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

This outcome was critical, given that in spite of the 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.