By Sachin Kumar
DOHA: Most of the currencies have remained stable during the first four months of this year against Qatari riyal. Euro, Indian rupee, Philippine peso, Pakistani rupee, Sri Lankan rupee and Bangladeshi taka remained stable.
Nepalese rupee declined by around 3 percent during the same period. A depreciating currency benefits expatriates because they get additional income due to decline. When a currency appreciates or rise against Qatari riyal, expatriates get less from their currency.
“There was not much fluctuation in the currency market in the first quarter of this year. Most of the major currencies, except Egyptian pound, did not exhibit any major change,” Zuber Abdul Rahman, Operations Manager, Al Zaman Exchange told The Peninsula.
Exchange houses in Qatar have not seen any surge in remittances outflows in the first four months of this year. “Remittances have not shown any surge this year so far, but we expect to see increase from next month due to the holy month of Ramadan,” said Rahman.
Nepalese rupee, which was trading at 28.32 against Qatari riyal on January 1, ended at 29.15 per riyal at the end of April, showing a fall of 3 percent.
Sri Lankan rupee lost by around 1 percent, as it fell from 39.70 from start of January to 40.02 at the end of April. Indian Rupee was trading at 18.23 per riyal on April 30, marginally weaker than 18.19 per riyal on January 1.
Philippine peso remained stable at 12.93 per riyal during the four months while Bangladeshi taka moved from 21.60 per riyal on January 1 to 21.53 on April 30. Pakistani rupee changed from 28.77 to 28.79 in the same duration while euro was stable at 0.25 against riyal.
Egyptian pound started the year at 1.96 per Qatari riyal on January 1 and ended at 2.44 per riyal on April 30.
The major reason behind fall in the currency was devaluation of Egyptian pound by the Central Bank of Egypt. The Central Bank of Egypt in March set the Egyptian pound at 8.85 per US dollar. Before the devaluation announcement, the exchange rate stood at 7.73.
The Peninsula
