New Delhi :
It is not that the rupee has weakened, but it is the US dollar that has strengthened. No matter how many tweets are written against that observation, it is a fact, the Economic Survey 2022-23 reiterated.
On a financial year basis, that is, from April to December 2022, the rupee has depreciated against the dollar by 8.3 percent.
Over the same period, the dollar has appreciated by 4.4 percent in terms of the dollar index.
This holds even on a calendar year basis, that is, from January to December 2022, the rupee has depreciated by 10.8 percent whereas the dollar has appreciated by 6.4 percent.
The Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the US dollar (27 economies) appreciated by 7.8 percent in the calendar year 2022, up to December, while the NEER of India (64 economies) depreciated by 4.8 percent, the Survey said.
“Several other currencies depreciated even more value against the dollar than the rupee. Thus, the external value of the rupee vis-a-vis the dollar has seen very orderly movements during the year since the onset of the current geopolitical crisis.”
Further, the rupee appreciated against select major currencies barring the dollar. The average exchange rate of the rupee against the pound sterling appreciated by 6.7 percent in April-December 2022 over April-December 2021. This rate of appreciation was 14.5 percent with respect to the Japanese Yen and 6.4 percent against the Euro.
On a financial year basis, that is, between April and December 2022, the rupee depreciated 3.4 percent and 4.0 percent measured in terms of 6-currency and 40-currency trade weighted indices, respectively. “Thus, even in real terms, the rupee witnessed modest depreciation in the face of global spillovers,” the Survey suggested. IANS