The dollar continued its upward momentum against the rupee in the interbank market on Thursday, as it gained Rs1.35 against the local currency.

The foreign currency closed at Rs285.15, the State Bank of Pakistan reported. Meanwhile, the rupee gained Rs3 in the open market and closed at Rs293.

Over the past few days, the rupee has been on a downward trajectory.

It merits here to mention that the ruling coalition, which secured the deal with the last-gasp International Monetary Fund deal in June, has vowed to ensure no abnormal premium emerges between the rate of interbank, open, and informal markets.

“The average premium between the interbank and open market rate will be no more than 1.25% during any consecutive five business day period,” it was stated in the 120-page country report published by the IMF on June 18.

The demand was made after the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan earlier this year put a price cap on the rate of the dollar. According to experts, the artificial cap caused “artificial” distortions and created a black market, where the US currency was selling at higher rates.

“Lots of risks and vulnerabilities that will require management, underpinned by a prudent macro framework,” Uzair Younus, who is the director of the Pakistan Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center, said on Tuesday.

In a series of tweets, he said that whoever was in power for the next two to three years had their work “cut out” in Islamabad.