Why Pakistan rupee is on a roller-coaster ride

Islamabad - 1.5% recovered by Pakistan rupee after shrinking 3.1 per cent on July 5

The Pakistani rupee suddenly fell down last week even before his political opponents could "stage a coup" against him. It was a fall of 3.1 per cent against the US dollar on Wednesday with a slight recovery following day.
Pakistan handles billions of dollars annually in trade and travel from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, UK and US. It is a brimming market in these days of June-to-August now when thousands of Muslims will be visiting Makkah and Madinah, in  Saud Arabia to perform their 'Haj' pilgrimage and need foreign exchange for travel, personal expenses, and to bring back home gifts for their families and friends.
The rupee is Sharif's favourite child and its health and well being is carefully looked after by him and his Finance Miniser Ishaq Dar, as economic makers and shaker.
But out of the blue, on the morning of May 5, something   mysterious happened. The rupee went crashing down and the dollar went up.
On May 5, rupee was traded at Rs104.50 to a dollar for buying and Rs104.70 for selling in the inter-bank market. In the open market, it was quoted at Rs104.87 for buying and Rs104.92 for selling. At closing, in the open market, next day, dollar was quoted at Rs106.45 for buying and Rs106.75, in the inter-bank market for buying and Rs106.75 for selling.
The next day by closing of the market the dollar had risen to and the rupee slipped down, the dollar was quoted at Rs108.15 for buying and Rs108.20  for selling in the inter-bank market. It was quoted at Rs108.15 for buying and Rs108.20 for selling.
What happened to the rupee - going down and down? Shouting against what had happened to the value of the rupee, then Finance Minister Ishaq Dar jumped in.
After threatening to "take strong and punitive action": he asked State Bank of Pakistan, the central bank, all domestic and foreign banks, and the foreign exchange managers and money changers to bring the rupee currency back to its original form and rates.
One analysis said, coming back on track, "the rupee firmed up 1.5 per cent on Thursday, after it slumped 3.1 per cent on July 5, in what is described as the de-facto devaluation  by the central bank."
SBP said the current exchange rate is broadly aligned with the economic fundamentals and the current changes are attributed to rising external deficit. It confirmed that Pakistan rupee-US dollar exchange rate in the inter-bank marked deprecated by 3.1 per cent on July 5.
"Pakisan's $300 billion economy has shown strong fundamentals. But deficit in its external account has been rising," according to the central bank statement.
"It is what I led SBP acting  Governer to permit this kind of unofficial devaluation carried out by private banks and forex handlers. No permission was sought, from the Federal Government and none was give," says Dar. The acting governor has gone on retirement, and the new, full-time Governor Tariq Bajwa has taken over for three years. Dar coming out harshly against the sudden move to devalue the rupee and said "the current account deficit is stable". 
The government says on the basis of information regarding the alleged complicity of the acting governor of SBP and a gig bank ordering the rupee value reduction, as well as the chances of the current anti-Nawaz political protest will be investigated and completed within 10 days.

The writer is based in Islamabad. Views expressed are his own and do not reflect the newspaper's policy.

• Gold and Forex
• Pakistan