Dubai: UAE expats hoping to remit more money back home to India or Pakistan, in exchange for lesser UAE dirhams, would have to wait as currencies strengthened considerably since Monday. Here's why that is and what rates to watch out for.
The Indian rupee strengthened to a sub-79 per dollar level in opening trade on Tuesday to its highest in more than three weeks tracking losses in the greenback.The partially convertible rupee was trading at 78.95 per dollar compared to its close of 79.02 after touching 78.94, its strongest since July 7. Check the latest forex rates here.
Against the UAE dirham, the Indian currency was at 21.3, compared to 21.4 on Monday, while the Pakistani rupee was currently at 64.8, versus 65.3 a day earlier.
Similarly, the Pakistan rupee on Monday strengthened by 54 paisa against the US dollar in the interbank trading and closed at Rs 238.83 against the previous day's closing. According to the Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP), the buying and selling rates of dollars in the open market were recorded at Rs 241 and Rs 246 respectively.
Weakness in the currencies' value against the US dollar will be automatically reflected in its exchange rate with the UAE dirham as the UAE currency is pegged to the dollar.
"If the Indian rupee continues to be under pressure, the RBI may look at alternate measures," said Rahul Singh, Senior Fund Manager Fixed Income at India-based LIC Mutual Fund Asset Management Ltd, while adding that the recent fall in the dollar index may also have provided some respite for the time being.
"We expect 35-50 bps repo rate hike in the upcoming policy and the RBI may continue to maintain that they see inflation around 6 per cent mark by the fourth quarter of 2023," Singh told IANS.
_resources1_16a30b358e0_small.jpg)
