Pakistan central bank's dollar buying slowed down in Jan

The State Bank of Pakistan's (SBP) buying spree of dollars from the domestic market slowed down in January as demand was on the higher side to meet importers' commitments.

The SBP bought $154 million worth of the greenbacks compared to an average of $789 million per month since June when the central bank started buying dollars.

Buying of dollars peaked in November at $1.151 billion.

Since June, the central bank has bought nearly $5.677 billion.

According to an analyst, if the State Bank had not bought dollars, the foreign exchange reserves would be nearly half from the current mark of $10.206 billion and the domestic currency would be under pressure.

The rupee has been a bit under pressure since last couple of months in both the interbank and open markets, trading at almost 15-months low of PKR 281.10 in the interbank market and close to touching the PKR 283 mark in the open market.

Recently, Fitch representatives, in an interview to foreign newswire service, said that rupee might touch PKR 295 level by June 2026.

In a recent report, brokerage house Topline Securities said that PKR has depreciated by 0.8% in the interbank market since Jan. "We expect PKR/USD (interbank) to fall to PKR 282-283 by June and to PKR 300 by June 2026."