KARACHI — The Iranian Rial has witnessed a notable devaluation against the Pakistani Rupee (PKR) in the open market, even as retail buyers and currency dealers continue to engage in speculative trading. While the official interbank exchange rate remains steady—with one Iranian Rial fetching approximately PKR 0.0002—the open market rate for 10 million (1 crore) Iranian Rials has declined to a bracket of PKR 6,000 to PKR 7,500, dropping from its earlier monthly peak of PKR 8,000 to PKR 10,000. This buying trend is largely driven by speculative anticipation of a future currency rebound, despite the Rial’s historic underperformance globally, where the US Dollar commands over 1.37 million Rials on official global networks and exceeds 1.6 million Rials in Iran’s unofficial domestic market.
Malik Bostan, Chairman of the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP), explained that the current market pattern mirrors historical shifts observed in 2016 when the partial lifting of international sanctions caused 10 million Rials to jump from PKR 10,000 to PKR 60,000. Recently, a brief diplomatic breakthrough pushed the rate up to PKR 13,000, which plummeted to PKR 2,000 after negotiations stalled, before recovering to the current PKR 4,000 to PKR 7,500 range following a fresh Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). While small-scale investors hope the easing of sanctions and the release of frozen assets could propel the currency back to PKR 60,000 or PKR 100,000, experts warn of high binary risks. Malik Bostan has strongly advised retail buyers to avoid long-term exposure, cap their investments at a maximum of PKR 100,000, and exit the market as soon as profit targets are achieved to avoid sudden losses if regional tensions resume.
