Pakistan spy agency targets ‘black market dollar trade’ to curb rupee slide — forex association president

A dealer counts US dollars at a money exchange market in Karachi on March 2, 2023. (AFP/ file)
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  • ISI deputy chief met currency exchange firms this week to address sharp slide in rupee, promoting security crackdown 
  • Action helped stabilize the open market rate and the rupee recovered against the dollar by one rupee on Thursday

KARACHI: A deputy chief of Pakistan’s spy agency met currency exchange firms this week to address a sharp slide in the rupee, prompting a security crackdown on “black market dollar trade,” the head of the country’s forex association told Reuters on Thursday.

The action helped stabilize the open market rate and the rupee recovered against the dollar by one rupee on Thursday, said Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan chairman Malik Muhammad Bostan.

“The dollar is down one rupee today in the open market. This is because we’re finally getting the supply we need,” Bostan said.

A spokesperson for the spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The ISI is led by Pakistan’s powerful military.

The action marks the second such intervention in two years after the military helped curb speculative currency trade in 2023