The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Thursday assured Exchange Companies of sufficient supply of cash US dollar to meet the rising demand in open currency market.
The dollar has been appreciating against the Pak rupee in the open market for the last few days and touched Rs 119.70 level Wednesday due to rising demand and slow supply, after which the Forex Association of Pakistan decided to fix the dollar rate on a daily basis for trading in open market.
The State Bank of Pakistan called an emergency meeting of the Exchange Companies at its head office Thursday. The meeting was chaired by Syed Irfan Ali, Executive Director. Malik Muhammad Bostan, President, Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP), Zafar Paracha, General Secretary, Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP) and several other representatives of exchange companies attended the meeting.
The Executive Director State Bank expressed concern over increasing rates of US dollar against the Rupee saying there is no justification for such hike in open currency market.
"There is no shortage of USD in the country and huge quantity of cash USD is available in any quantity with SBP. We will supply cash US dollar to Exchange Companies as per their demand in case of any shortage in open currency market," he added.
After the meeting, Malik Muhammad Bostan, President FAP told Business Recorder that after rate fixation by the FAP and the SBP's announcement, the exchange rate stabilized in the open currency market. With Rs 0.20 decline, the US dollar was traded at Rs 118.50 on Thursday compared to Rs 118.70 on Wednesday.
"We have also discussed the exchange rate issue with Advisor on Finance, Miftah Ismail and governor SBP, Tariq Bajwa over phone and both assured full support to bring the exchange rate at a reasonable level," he maintained.
He said it was also decided that the widening gap in interbank and open currency market will be bridged. "With recent measurers, it is being expected that the gap between open currency market and interbank rates will fall up to one percent next week," he added.
He said that during this week daily shortage of the dollar rose to one million, however after fixation of rate by FAP, there was no shortage of the greenback in the market Thursday.