When will the Pakistani Rupee appreciate?

[tahaqureshi]

The Pakistani economy is progressing quite well and things seem to be shaping up pretty nicely, yet after 5 years the rupee is still quite weak. Does anyone know if its bound to strengthen soon or appreciate, or is it very difficult to forsee such a change in the near future?

as of today 1 USD = 60.18 Rs

[HAFRIDI]

Im sure it was 70 odd when i was in Pak last summer..in AK

[Toony™®]

i remember in the early 90s it was around 30 odd.

Considering Pak have borrowed another $6billion from world bank..i guess it will be still awhile.

[Nauman]

Never the value is going down you can figure that out from the fact that they just released Rs 5000 Note the other day.

[HAFRIDI]

Sorry, maybe 50 odd it was.

[lahori]

Pak Rupee at one point sank as low as 65Rs per $1 USD. This was after Pakistan declared Nuclear capability in 1998 and State Bank of Pakistan froze outgoing USD transfers. It was unfortunately also the time I had to buy USDs at their peak price to go to Amreeka for study abroad.

[Hussain]

before 9 /11 ----US $ appreciated to around 69 rupees per dollar and it was aprreciating at sucjh an accelerate d rate that many ppl I know here
started buying dollars from the market as an investment which further fuelled the appreciation of dollar

however this trend was reversed to quite a bit when dollar suddenly slipped to around Rs 57 in six months following 9/11 ......and since then it has appreciated by only 3 rupees to 60.18 (as taha mentioned) in some 5 years

so rupee has gained some stability since then ........

as for dollar further depreciating ...... I am not an economics man but I might still be worthy enough for a 2 cents opinion ........ till the time we keep trading in dollars with our major trading partners and trhat too with a trade deficit(except USA ) like Gulf states , Japan , China and EU .....we cant improve our rupee vs dollar any further as our trade deficit is around $ 13 billion dollars , for which our government has to further deprecite rupee by buying dollars to cover up for that 13 billion deficit

[Daoud]

The rupee appreciating isnt always a good thing. For a country like Pakistan if the currency is overvalued, it will cause problems. Not only will the currency be unstable, but our exports will be uncompetitive. So with an undervalued rupee, our exports are fairly competative

[Toony™®]

Originally Posted by HAFRIDI Sorry, maybe 50 odd it was.

it aint been 50 odd since the late 90s.

[Toony™®]

pak to the pound it was 122 a month back.

£ over 12 months

$ over 12 months

[Nauman]

Originally Posted by Daoud The rupee appreciating isnt always a good thing. For a country like Pakistan if the currency is overvalued, it will cause problems. Not only will the currency be unstable, but our exports will be uncompetitive. So with an undervalued rupee, our exports are fairly competative

In theory yes but because we import necesseties like Oil in large quantities your theory backfires itself on Pakistan.

[Nauman]

Originally Posted by Toony™® pak to the pound it was 122 a month back. £ over 12 months $ over 12 months

Hmm it was around 112 Rs to 1 pound 2 weeks ago.

[Daoud]

Originally Posted by Nauman In theory yes but because we import necesseties like Oil in large quantities your theory backfires itself on Pakistan.

Good point. Pakistan does import more than it exports doesnt it

[Nauman]

Originally Posted by Daoud Good point. Pakistan does import more than it exports doesnt it

yeah and that not only makes the BOT defecit bigger but contributes to mounting inflation.

[Toony™®]

Also, over the last month, the dollar is being weaken deliberately so US exports increase. So, their trade deficit gets smaller.

[Daoud]

Originally Posted by Toony™® Also, over the last month, the dollar is being weaken deliberately so US exports increase. So, their trade deficit gets smaller.

Now they definetely need to do that. Although I suppose by default that means the Arab currencies deflate too. Hopefully that has an effect on the crude price

[jusarrived]

Like daoud said,for a developing country like pakistan wats Ideal is a stable rupee rather than a stronger rupee....it dosen matter even if your import bills are higher than exports,cos the Idea always shud be to increase trade both ways n make your exports more competetive....n higher imports are signs of a growing economy!

[Nauman]

Originally Posted by jusarrived n higher imports are signs of a growing economy!

not necesserily, I dont think there is much of an increase in quantity its just the import figure has gone up because of increasing oil prices.

[suhaib]

well againsts the pound it has got quite strong.

i remember being in pakistan 6 years ago, i use to get 50 rupees for a pound, now i get 110 rupees for a pound.

[Hash]

Those who have studied economics will know that a strong Ruppee is not necessarily a good thing.....if anything it would harm Pakistan's exports.

There are a lot of countries in the world which have weak currencies (Japan......200 Yen to the pound, Italy). It is not a very important factor in an economy at all.

[Nauman]

Originally Posted by suhaibonline well againsts the pound it has got quite strong. i remember being in pakistan 6 years ago, i use to get 50 rupees for a pound, now i get 110 rupees for a pound.

That means it has gone weaker not stronger

[Daoud]

Originally Posted by Nauman That means it has gone weaker not stronger

[suhaib]

Originally Posted by Nauman That means it has gone weaker not stronger

well it has got stronger for me hasnt it.

[cavin420]

Originally Posted by suhaibonline well againsts the pound it has got quite strong. i remember being in pakistan 6 years ago, i use to get 50 rupees for a pound, now i get 110 rupees for a pound.

it was 113 not so long ago

[Daoud]

Originally Posted by suhaibonline well it has got stronger for me hasnt it.

Cheaper, not stronger

[jusarrived]

any one here thinks a common asian currency is feasible?

[kasoo10]

It will appreciate when all the other currencies and commodities will depreciate. It is going to be a one sided move, but, on the other side.