KARACHI, March 14: The Pakistani currency has almost lost whatever it gained against the dollar just after the general elections on February 18.

The greenback demand in both inter-bank and open market has been rising with the prolongation of political uncertainty.

Exchange rate experts and currency dealers said the dollar was inching towards the highest level it achieved before the elections and that was 6-year high against the rupee.

On Friday, the dollar was traded as high as Rs62.90, which was not far from the earlier peak it hit before the elections. In the second week of February, the dollar touched Rs63.11, which was 6-year high against the local currency.

The panic in the currency market had vanished after the peaceful elections and the Pak rupee gained Rs1.5 per dollar within a couple of days.

“All these achievements of rupee have lost and we fear that the dollar may cross even the 6-year high limit if the political uncertainty prevails for another couple of weeks,” said Abid Ali, a currency dealer.

After the elections, the winning political parties have failed to form a government, while reports about the differences among the political parties as well as those within the majority party in the National Assembly, supported the deepening of disappointing political environment.

Currency dealers said the report that Saudi Arabia would provide $300 million grant to Pakistan could not uplift the moral of the market and the greenback continued to dominate the exchange rate in its favour.

“We are expecting another chunk of about $193 million within a couple of weeks and that is regarding the sale proceeds of Worldcall,” said Khurram Shazad, another currency dealer.

Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) signed on February 18, a share purchase agreement with the existing majority owners of Worldcall Telecom Limited. Omantel will acquire 60 per cent of Worldcall shares from majority owners, and a further 5 per cent from other shareholders through the securities market, for a total transaction value of $193 million.

“These inflows in next 15 days and higher remittances of overseas Pakistanis along with the increased foreign direct investment can strengthen the Pak rupee but the political uncertainty has the potential to mitigate the impact of heavy forex inflows,” said Shazad.

Dealers said the market was short of dollars supply. They said the situation seems to remain same in future as there is no hope for the improvement in trade and current account deficits.