The rupee (sign: Rs; code: PKR) is the currency of Pakistan. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the State Bank of Pakistan, the central bank of the country. The most commonly used symbol for the rupee is Rs, used on receipts when purchasing goods and services. In Pakistan, the rupee is referred to as the "rupees", "rupaya" or "rupaye". As standard in Pakistani English, large values of rupees are counted in terms of thousands, lakh (100 thousand, in digits 1,00,000) and crore (10 million, in digits 1,00,00,000). To compare the price of Pakistan Rupee (PKR) to other currencies you can use the following currency converter.
Example of Pakistan Rupee (PKR)
Banknotes of Pakistan Rupee (PKR)
In 1947, provisional issues of banknotes were made, consisting of Government of India and Reserve Bank of India notes for 1, 2, 5, 10 and 100 rupees overprinted with the text "Government of Pakistan" in English and Urdu. Regular government issues commenced in 1948 in denominations of 1, 5, 10 and 100 rupees.
The government continued to issue 1 rupee notes until the 1980s but other note issuing was taken over by the State Bank in 1953, when 2, 5, 10 and 100 rupees notes were issued. Only a few 2 rupees notes were issued. 50 rupees notes were added in 1957, with 2 rupees notes reintroduced in 1985. In 1986, 500 rupees notes were introduced, followed by 1000 rupees the next year. 2 and 5 rupees notes were replaced by coins in 1998 and 2002. 20 rupee notes were added in 2005, followed by 5000 rupees in 2006.
All banknotes other than the 1 and 2 rupees feature a portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah on the obverse along with writing in Urdu. The reverses of the banknotes vary in design and have English text. The only Urdu text found on the reverse is the Urdu translation of the Prophetic Hadith, "Seeking honest livelihood is worship of God."
The banknotes vary in size and colour, with larger denominations being longer than smaller ones. All contain multiple colours. However, each denomination does have one colour which predominates. All banknotes feature a watermark for security purposes. On the larger denomination notes, the watermark is a picture of Jinnah, while on smaller notes, it is a crescent and star. Different types of security threads are also present in each banknote.
Exchange rates of Pakistan Rupee (PKR)
The Rupee was pegged to the US Dollar until 1982. When the government of General Zia-ul-Haq, changed it to managed float. This has been regarded as the best decision by Zia. As a result, the rupee devalued by 38.5% between 1982/83 and 1987/88 and the anti-export bias in the economy was reduced.
The Pakistani rupee depreciated against the US dollar until the turn of the century, when Pakistan's large current-account surplus pushed the value of the rupee up versus the dollar. Pakistan's central bank then stabilized by lowering interest rates and buying dollars, in order to preserve the country's export competitiveness. The year 2008 has been termed as disastrous year for the rupee as so far (up to August 2008) it has lost 23% of its value since December, 2007 to a record low of 79.2 against US Dollar. The major reasons for this depreciation are ongoing political crisis, increased current and trade accounts deficits and rising militancy in the NWFP and FATA areas.
Since the allegedly forex scam case arrests, greenback value is depreciating against ruppee. Dollar fell from 87 to 0.916 in international forex exchange and 0.9 in Pakistani Open Market.