欧美文化:Pakistani rupee significantly strengthens following staff-level IMF agreement

ISLAMABAD, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani rupee gains significant strength against the U.S. dollar following Pakistan's staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the greenback was being traded at 275.44 rupees in the interbank market on Tuesday, according to the State Bank of Pakistan.

The U.S. dollar closed at 285.99 rupees on June 27, and it went down on Tuesday after the local currency appreciated by 10.55 rupees or about 3.83 percent against the U.S. dollar, official figures showed.

This is the highest day-on-day recovery after May 12 this year when the local currency appreciated by 13.85 rupees or 4.86 percent against the U.S. dollar.

The IMF and the Pakistani authorities reached a staff-level agreement last week, on a nine-month Stand-By Arrangement in the amount of around 3 billion U.S. dollars, which is subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board, with its consideration expected by mid-July.

According to market analysts, the agreement with the IMF generated positive sentiments in the market, which caused this strong recovery as the country's foreign exchange reserves have been shrinking in the past months, which was resulting in the devaluation of the local currency.

The analysts have said that IMF's program is going to improve the foreign reserves issue and would potentially increase the South Asian country's credit ratings internationally, which would result in the further strengthening of the local currency in the coming days.