Pakistan’s fiscal year starts on July 1st and ends on June 30th. The rupee to US dollar exchange rate was Rs158.06 at the beginning of fiscal year 2021-2022, and it reached an all-time high of Rs212.103 in the inter-bank market on June 21, 2022. This represents a depreciation of more than 34 per cent in less than a year.

The graph below demonstrates how the PKR to USD exchange rate varied over time:

During the fiscal year 2020-2021, the local currency plunged 17.47 per cent from Rs158.062 to Rs184.159 in 9 months, from July 1, 2022 to April 11, 2022, under the PTI regime. Since PDM took over, the rupee has lost nearly 14.31 per cent of its value in just three months.

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The table below compares PKR to dollar values over time, as well as the government in power at the time:

 PKR to DollarGovernment
July 2021158.062PTI
August 2021162.571PTI
September 2021166.872PTI
October 2021170.997PTI
November 2021170.92PTI
December 2021176.042PTI
January 2022176.214PTI
February 2022176.736PTI
March 2022177.573PTI
April 2022184.159PTI and PDM
May 2022185.794PDM
June 2022197.744PDM
June 23 2022207.516PDM

Dollar demand remains strong in the market, pushing the greenback’s value higher against the rupee. The local currency is likely to remain volatile until the IMF agrees to disburse the next tranche of loans to Pakistan.