Sources said the issue was also discussed in a recent meeting of the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet where the participants were informed that the country's foreign exchange reserves stood at $12.313 billion on October 5, despite significant increase in payments and higher oil imports.
According to these sources, a finance ministry official held a meeting with the Dubai based money changers in Karachi recently, asking them to avoid steps to weaken the rupee.
Sources said that remittances stood at $670 million in the first two months of the current fiscal year against $588 million of last year.
RUPEE HITS 2-YEAR LOW: The rupee on Wednesday touched the level of 60 to a dollar in open market in Karachi after two years because of rise in payments on account of oil bill in higher demand from pilgrims proceeding for Umrah.
The buying rate most of the day ranged between 59.85 and 59.90, but during the wee hours there was an outburst of demand from investors and speculators with the value of dollar reaching Rs 60. The dollar last had seen these levels in October 2002.
Anwar Jamal, foreign exchange dealer at Galaxy International, said that they were buying dollar at Rs 58.90 and selling at Rs 60 under the reflection of inter-bank rates which were quoted between Rs 59.55 and Rs 59.60 to a dollar.
The rupee slid because of higher oil payments and demands from retail investors.
An expert said he expected that due to the continuous spiral in oil prices, increasing import of machinery and raw material, trade deficit might widen to $4 billion this fiscal year.
Anwar said that the demands for Saudi riyal, UAE dirham and US dollar are on the rise because of Umrah season. During Ramazan, as many as 100,000 people perform Umrah which raises the demand for foreign currency in the country.