Karachi, 29 December 2025 – The Pakistani rupee nudged higher in the year’s penultimate session, with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fixing the USD to PKR mark-to-market currency rate at Rs 280.1602, 6 paisa below last close and the leanest print since mid-December.Priority Currencies – Quick Take1. US Dollar (USD) – 280.16 (spot)The 6-paisa slip leaves the greenback flat for December and cements the 279–282 range that has governed trade since early autumn. One-week forwards sit at 280.49, a wafer-thin 0.11 % carry. Exporters are happy to offer above 280.80 while oil importers pick up dips below 280.30.“Year-end liquidity is ample; the currency rate is drifting on technical flows rather than any macro shift,” said a senior treasury dealer.2. Saudi Riyal (SAR) – 74.70SAR drifts 1 paisa lower to 74.70; 12-month forward is 77.21, an annualised 3.4 %—still the tightest band among major remittance corridors. Exchange houses report steady demand from Umrah-bound travellers locking in the rate before the January rush.3. UAE Dirham (AED) – 76.28AED holds at 76.28; six-month forward is 77.57, implying 3.3 % annualised rupee softness. UAE salary inflows continue to migrate to formal banking, keeping the pair quietly anchored.4. Qatari Riyal (QAR) – 76.86QAR slips 1 paisa to 76.86; one-year forward is 80.17, a 4.3 % annualised gap—virtually identical to SAR and AED, underscoring uniform Gulf-peg calm.5. Kuwaiti Dinar (KWD) – 911.72KWD edges up Rs 0.5 to 911.72 on the firmer USD cross. Twelve-month forwards at 958.15 equate to 5.1 % annualised PKR weakness—marginally wider than GCC peers owing to thinner dinar liquidity.6. Bahraini Dinar (BHD) – 742.93BHD softens 20 paisa to 742.93; six-month forward is 753.70, an annualised 2.9 %—the flattest curve among Gulf units. Manama-linked IT remittances remain steady.7. Australian Dollar (AUD) – 187.86The “Aussie” touches a seven-week peak of 187.86 as iron-ore futures nudge $110/t. One-year forward is 195.15, implying 3.9 % annualised rupee deprecation—almost flat against the SAR curve, confirming that AUD/PKR moves are driven by commodity swings rather than PKR risk.8. Canadian Dollar (CAD) – 204.61The “Loonie” holds above 204.61 as WTI crude steadies near $80/bbl. Twelve-month forwards at 216.45 still pencil out to 5.7 % annualised rupee softness, but importers of prairie pulses are said to have covered February shipments early, capping further CAD gains.Other Majors – Single-Paragraph Round-UpEuro opens at 329.85, up 0.4 % on the week after softer US payroll data; one-year forward is 349.33, translating into 5.9 % annualised rupee weakness. Sterling firms to 377.71, little moved after BoE minutes cooled rate-cut bets. Japanese yen remains the cheapest major at 1.79 per unit, but forwards price 7.0 % annualised PKR decline—the steepest among G-10 pairs. Swiss franc is 355.08; Singapore dollar 217.93; Swedish krona 30.54; Norwegian krone 27.94; Danish krone 44.17; New Zealand dollar 162.89; Chinese yuan 39.97; Turkish lira 6.53; Russian ruble 3.60; Indian rupee 3.12; Bangladeshi taka 2.29—all inside well-worn ranges and implying no event-risk premium ahead of the IMF’s first-quarter 2026 review.Market Context & OutlookThe uniformly slender forward premiums—barely 5–6 % annualised even for the least-liquid pairs—tell currency desks that both importers and exporters believe the State Bank has enough cover to defend the rupee through the winter remittance season. Reserves have risen $1.5 billion in six weeks to $20.4 billion, while the real effective exchange rate (REER) slipped to 98.2 in November, a level the IMF considers “competitive but not undervalued.” Unless oil spikes above $90 or political noise disrupts the Fund programme, traders expect the USD currency rate to remain hand-cuffed to the 279–282 corridor for the rest of 2025, dragging the rest of the currency mosaic along in its slipstream.