The central bank “did the devaluation by allowing some import payments to be made through the interbank system,” Fawad Khan, research head at BMA Capital, said by phone. Pakistan’s benchmark KSE100 Index rose as much as 2.1 percent, led by stocks gaining from a weaker currency, before closing little changed. The move may help the nation curb a widening deficit and boost falling exports as Sharif looks to contest national elections next year. Pakistan’s trade gap has increased about 60 percent to $3.5 billion through May compared with same period last year. The rupee’s strength “was leading to a wider current account deficit and depreciation pressure on the currency,” said Divya Devesh, a Singapore-based Asia foreign-exchange strategist at Standard Chartered Plc. “We were forecasting a move toward 108 in USD-PKR by end-year.” The IMF last month said economic stability reached under a three-year $6.6 billion loan program that ended last year has begun to erode. Pakistan’s current account gap has more than doubled to $8.9 billion in 11 months ended May compared with $3.2 billion in the same period last year.

Source:https://www.bloomberg.com