KARACHI: Dollar value has surpassed Rs 173 for the first time in the history of the country.

Dollar upward flight continued in the first week of interbank session in the face of growing demand of dollar, increase in price of crude oil, import bill and inflation.

The US dollar has broken all the previous records of escalation against Pakistani Rupee (PKR) in today’s interbank session, appreciating by about Rs2.

The dollar was being traded around PKR173.20 on the first business day of the week compared to the previous working day’s close of 171.18.

The continuous increase in the value of the dollar has not only increased debt burden on the country by about 1800 billion rupees but has also contributed in hike in prices of everyday use items.

On the other hand raids are underway on exchange companies in the light of new steps taken by State Bank. Due to these raids dollar smuggling from open market to Afghanistan has been contained considerably. But the desired impact of these raids are not visible in interbank market.