ADVERTISEMENT

Barclays Sees Rupee Suffering Worse Rout Than in 2013 Taper

Barclays sees rupee weakening to 72 per dollar by end of 2018. 

Barclays Sees Rupee Suffering Worse Rout Than in 2013 Taper
Indian five hundred rupee banknotes are arranged for a photograph in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc has become the most bearish forecaster on the Indian rupee, predicting the currency will weaken more than it did during the taper tantrum five years ago.

The lender expects the rupee to decline to 72 per dollar by year-end as elevated oil prices dents government finances and foreigners dump Indian assets. Hitting the target would mean an annual drop of 11.3 percent for the currency, worse than that seen in 2013. The prediction is also more bearish than the 67.52 median forecast in a Bloomberg survey.

“India’s difficulty in attracting portfolio flows is exacerbated by poor bond market, unclear policy communication by the Reserve Bank of India and rising political risks ahead of the 2019 election,” analysts Hamish Pepper and Dennis Tan wrote in a note Thursday. Barclays’ earlier forecast was 69 per dollar.

Barclays Sees Rupee Suffering Worse Rout Than in 2013 Taper

The sentiment has reversed from a year ago when analysts said emerging-market currencies were better prepared to endure a selloff when major central banks start paring stimulus because of healthy public finances and subdued inflation. But elevated oil prices and hardening global yields has spurred global funds to pull $6.7 billion from Indian stocks and bonds this year, sending the rupee to the brink of its 2016 record low.

The rupee was trading 0.3 percent higher at 67.8150 at 4:14 p.m. in Mumbai, set for its first weekly advance in three.

“India’s wider current-account deficit, driven by higher oil prices and demand for capital import, will be increasingly difficult to fund, given the increased return competition posed by higher USD rates for EM debtors,” the analysts wrote.

To contact the reporter on this story: Subhadip Sircar in Mumbai at ssircar3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tan Hwee Ann at hatan@bloomberg.net, Ravil Shirodkar

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.