Pakistani Rupee Hits New Historic Low Of 200 Against US Dollar: Report

The Pakistani rupee dropped to a new historic low in the interbank market amid increasing political pressure on the government to announce an early election.

The local currency was traded at rupees (PKR) 200 against USD during intraday trade on Thursday, Geo News reported.

On Thursday, the Pakistani rupee closed at PKR 198.39. But currency surpassed the startling milestone of 200 within the first few hours of trading today.

This comes as there is increasing uncertainty over the revival of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme.

Against this backdrop, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif convened an important meeting on the economic situation to discuss issues related to preventing the currency from devaluing.

During the meeting, PM Sharif was apprised of the situation regarding imports and exports of the country. He asked relevant authorities to present an implementation report on the decision regarding the ban on importing non-essential items announced on Thursday.

Pakistan Finance Minister Miftah Ismail held a virtual meeting with the IMF mission chief earlier this week. According to Geo News, Pakistan has indicated to the IMF negotiation team that it is willing to take "tough measures" to restart the stalled USD 6 billion fund program.

The report added that Pakistani authorities would make every effort to urge the IMF's review mission that it should lower the cost of the inflation burden that will impact the population.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)