Rupee drops as dollar demand rises.

KARACHI -- Pakistani rupee slightly dropped by 0.13%, or Rs0.38, at Rs238.50 against the US dollar on Monday, ending two consecutive days of winning streak in the inter-bank market.

Market talk suggested that there was a slight increase in demand for the dollar, when trading resumed after a long weekend spanning four days.

It was contrary to expectations of a continuous uptrend in the rupee's value in the wake of removal of the condition of depositing up to 100% advance payment for imports.

Pakistan has reopened imports for a full range of goods to meet another condition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to pave the way for the resumption of $6.5 billion loan programme.

Experts were, however, of the view that the lifting of cash margin condition would make no difference since Pakistan had critically low foreign currency reserves of $4.6 billion. With these limited reserves, the country may only finance imports for about a month.

Moreover, they did not see the revival of IMF's programme anytime soon, considering that Pakistan had to take financial commitments of $6-7...