Rupee’s depreciation against the dollar continued for the fifth straight session on Friday as the local currency remained under pressure during intraday trade in the interbank market.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the rupee was trading at Rs220.44 against the dollar, down by Rs1.03 or 0.57% from Thursday’s close.

The depreciation in the local currency continued despite hopes of of the revival of the International Monetary Fund program, which will hopefully be decided during the Fund’s executive board meeting scheduled on August 29, and reports that Saudi Arabia is planning to invest $1 billion in Pakistan on the directives of Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail while addressing a press conference in Islamabad said that the government was hopeful of getting over $1 billion tranche from the IMF.

Miftah said that the government had met all IMF targets.

In response to pressure from the IMF, the government eased long restrictions on imports of luxury goods.