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The Best Pakistani Rupee Rates: A Guide to Converting, Exchanging, and Transferring Rupees

Last updated on March 6th, 2024 at 10:53 pm

 
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Pakistan

Currency exchange is an important part of this increasingly global life. While most people think about currency exchange rates when jetting off on a foreign trip, getting a great exchange rate is crucial when transferring money overseas, like sending funds to loved ones back home in Pakistan. 

How can you make sure you don’t get stung with excessive fees and less-than-generous Pakistani rupee (PKR) rates? Remitly offers safe, easy, and reliable money transfers across the globe, ensuring that your family receives the rupees back home with minimal transaction fees. Before you convert euros, pounds, US dollars, riyals, or any other currency into Pakistani rupees, here’s what you need to know.

Currency exchange explained

Exchange rates tell you the value of a particular country’s currency compared to another. Looking at the exchange rate for the Pakistan rupee lets you know how much of one rupee you can buy using another currency.

For example, let’s say you currently live in France. As of June 2023, the euro to Pakistani rupee rate:

1 EUR = 309 PKR

This tells you that you’ll get 309 Pakistani rupees for one euro.

This number is constantly changing, almost on a daily basis. In fact, these rates change so frequently that throughout the day, they might be different from one minute to the next. 

Around the same time one year ago, that one euro would have been worth 214.25 Pakistani rupees. 

Rates can shift and change based on various complex reasons, including:

  • Inflation rates
  • Interest rates
  • Government debt
  • Political and economic stability
  • How much a country exports and imports
  • Demand for the currency by speculators

Each of those factors can fluctuate and change on their own as well. Sudden events, like political scandals or wars, and more gradual changes, like an economic upswing, can affect the exchange rate. 

The bottom line? Sending money to Pakistan may cost you more on some days than others.

Why is the Pakistani rupee conversion so high?

There are several reasons why you’d have to spend a lot of Pakistani rupees to buy a euro, a pound, or a US dollar. For example, imports continue to exceed exports, suppressing demand for Pakistani rupees on the international market. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the economy. 

While such market forces cause PKR rates to ebb and flow, the State Bank of Pakistan can intervene if the exchange rate moves too far in a particular direction. This is known as a managed floating exchange rate, which has its own ins and outs.

Thankfully, getting a healthy, cost-effective PKR conversion doesn’t mean you have to lose yourself in the complexities of financial markets. You can’t control market forces or exchange rates. You can control who you transfer money with, which means you can choose a remittance service with the lowest fees and charges.

Sending money to Pakistan: converting to rupees

When transferring and converting currency to Pakistani rupees (or vice versa), you have two routes: sending through your bank or a dedicated money transfer service.

Sending Pakistani rupees through your bank

Using a bank to exchange USD for PKR, GBP for PKR, EUR for PKR, or other currencies can be tempting. After all, your money is already in your bank account, so you don’t need to go through any extra effort. Banks usually automatically factor in fees for paying the exchange rate.

Sending Pakistani rupees through a money transfer service

A specialized money transfer service can be a more affordable way to send money to Pakistan. Remitly and other digital companies don’t have physical locations, meaning their running costs are lower. They can afford to pass these savings onto you, giving you the lowest fees and a more cost-effective exchange rate.

Using Remitly to send rupees to Pakistan

Remitly has partnered with numerous financial institutions in Pakistan, from Habib Bank to Bank Alfalah. This keeps your money safe as Remitly deposits your rupees directly into your loved one’s bank account in Pakistan. 

To start using the service:

  1. Set up a Remitly account through the website or app
  2. Fill out basic information, like your name, phone number, and payment details.
  3. Once that’s all done, you can add your recipient’s bank information and send the money immediately.

Remitly also allows you to send money to a pickup location in Pakistan, which is convenient if your loved one doesn’t have a bank account.

You can also use Remitly to send to Easypaisa and other mobile wallet accounts.

We also provide current information about exchange rates and fees for:

send money with Remitly

Sending money from Pakistan: converting PKR to another currency

If you want to do the reverse (sending money from Pakistan to another country), you can use a Foreign Currency Demand Draft or an online transfer.

Online transfers can be more expensive and time-consuming. Banks tend to add higher fees, and you may be required to go into a bank branch in person to make the transfer. That may be significantly less convenient than simply tapping on an app.

What about exchanging PKR outside of Pakistan?

If you’re looking to exchange Pakistani rupees for other international currencies, from US dollars to Saudi riyals, you have many options open to you, including:

  • Currency exchange desks (often found at airports)
  • Foreign currency services at your bank
  • ATMs
  • Bank cards
  • Bank wire

Currency exchange desks and banks are probably the most convenient and familiar options for most people. They tend to have fair rates and low fees.

Bank wires are an option if you have bank accounts in both your current country of residence and the country you want currency from. Just make sure you look at the transaction fees.

A remarkably swift and easy way to get your hands on foreign currency: use your debit or credit card to withdraw money from an ATM when you’ve arrived in that country. However, the fees for doing this will rack up quickly, so be cautious of how often you do this.

We recommend opening a local bank account if you’re staying for any real-time in a different country. For more details, read our guides to opening a bank account in the US, the UK, or Canada.

Finding the best Pakistani rupee exchange rate

While you probably won’t have to calculate the exchange rate yourself, it’s helpful and informative to do so. Doing this can help you select your budget’s ideal transfer option.

To work it out manually, subtract commissions and taxes from the total. Calculating this yourself can be more accurate than using an automatic currency converter online.

How to find euro to Pakistani rupee rates

The formula for determining a currency exchange:

Send currency x Exchange rate = Received amount

Let’s say you want to send 100 EUR to your family in Pakistan. Let’s say that the exchange rate is 309 PKR per 1 euro. The calculation for this would be:

100 EUR x 309 PKR = 30,900 PKR

With that exchange rate, you’d end up with 30,900 PKR from 100 EUR. 

Once you have the total, subtract costs like fees and taxes to see how much you’d actually get for your money.

For example, if your bank or remittance company charges a fee of 20 euros on the transfer. You have to multiply that fee by the exchange market rate:

20 EUR x 309 PKR = 6,180 PKR

This means that the fee would be 6,180 rupees. By subtracting this from the original total, you get the total amount that your loved ones would receive:

30,900 PKR – 6,180 PKR = 24,720 PKR

By comparison, Remitly’s fee is a maximum of 1.99 EUR. Given the above exchange conversion rate, the fee would be 614.91 rupees through Remitly. You’d save thousands of rupees on each transaction.

How to find dollar-to-Pakistan rupee rates

Say you want to send $100 from the U.S. to your family in Pakistan. The calculation is as follows:

100 USD x 287.50 PKR = 28,750 PKR

From there, subtract transfer fees, and you have the amount your family would get.

pakistani rupee notes

Getting the best deal

As you can see, you have several options for converting currency to Pakistani rupees or vice versa. They each have their own drawbacks in terms of added costs and convenience.

When you’ve worked hard to support the people you care for, you want to maximize the number of rupees every time you transfer money. Picking a transfer service that offers low fees and the best exchange rates every time ensures peace of mind for you and your family when you send money to Pakistan.