The Pakistani rupee PKR has stabilized, depreciating by around 6% in 2009 versus 22% in 2008, reports Forex news website of Dollars Magazine today.
According to report external account corrections, combined with record-high remittances from overseas Pakistanis has kept the Pakistan rupee broadly stable.
However, the report warns that Pakistan rupee can come under pressure during 2010 because of the rising trend in the commodity prices and exchange rate reforms including shifting crude oil payments to the interbank market.
On the brighter side there is a lot of potential in the already fruitful remittances area according to the Governor SBP Saleem Raza still over 50% of the country’s remittances come in through non formal channels.
Some of Pakistani experts do not completely agree with the governor’s statistics but consensus exist that there is a lot of room for growth in workers’ remittances.
PAKISTAN’S FOREX MARKET
Pakistan forex market sees a trade of over $ 8 billion every month the bulk of which is carried out in the interbank market. There are a total of 31 exchange companies authorized by the central bank five of which are subsidiaries of country’s major banking institutions.
Three exchanges are currently on the suspension namely Al Sahara Exchange, Khanani and Kalia and Zarco Exchange due to non compliance and other issues. There are another 30 companies in the B category of exchange companies whose operations are restricted only to the sale and purchase of foreign currencies
All of these companies come under the exchange policy department of the State Bank of Pakistan and are regulated by the Foreign exchange regulations act 1947 (FERA 1947). There is a foreign exchange manual published by the central bank which out lines all the dos and don’ts for the authorized dealers, exchange companies, investors and general public.
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