The Pakistani rupee has hit an all-time low as Pakistan’s top court prepares to rule on the case of the National Assembly deputy speaker’s obstruction of an opposition attempt to depose Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Khan lost his parliamentary majority last week and was on the verge of being driven out of government by an opposition no-confidence vote on Sunday.
The motion for the vote was thrown down by the deputy speaker of parliament, a member of Khan’s party, who ruled it was part of a foreign conspiracy and unconstitutional. On Khan’s advice, the country’s president dissolved parliament and announced general elections.
The manoeuvre, according to detractors of the former cricketer, was unlawful and caused political chaos in the nuclear-armed country.
The rupee hit 188.14 to the dollar, according to data from Pakistan’s State Bank.
Currency dealers indicated the depreciation in the open, or unofficial, markets was significantly higher.
The political impasse has plunged the 220 million-strong country, which has been controlled by the military for long periods since its independence in 1947, into a full-fledged constitutional crisis.
Economic authorities in Pakistan, which is undergoing a bailout from the International Monetary Fund, are concerned about the issue.
It also jeopardises relations with the United States, which Khan accuses of being behind the plot to destabilise him. This is something that Washington denies.
