This refers to "A yielding PKR" carried by Business Recorder last week. The op-ed writer, Syed Bakhtiar Kazmi, has raised a very pertinent question with regard to PKR-US dollar parity: He has asked: "The obvious question is why has the SBP not arrested this slide again? The not so obvious answer can be twofold; lack of ability or change in the desired band. The former is rather frightening and is discounted assuming healthy forex reserves and good friends still willing to come to Pakistan's aid; the latter begs the question why does SBP believe that the rupee should be devalued?"
Although the writer has presented the most plausible answer to this question in his write-up, his assumption that "good friends still willing to come to Pakistan's aid", however, does not seem to be premised on better understanding of the situation following the Yemen conflict. Both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) seem to have been piqued by Pakistan's policy stance that Islamabad took in country's best interests. Pakistan therefore cannot bank on these "good friends" for any meaningful financial assistance at least at this point in time.