Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry(LCCI) has sought a clear policy statement from the government on dollar prices as single-day heavy increase would ruin the trade and economic activities besides jacking up inflation to unmanageable level
Lahore (Pakistan Point News / Online - 27th June, 2019) Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry(LCCI) has sought a clear policy statement from the government on dollar prices as single-day heavy increase would ruin the trade and economic activities besides jacking up inflation to unmanageable level.In a statement, the LCCI President Almas Hyder said that within just two days, the devaluation of Pakistani rupee has been recorded to be over Rs.7 that is a bad omen for the economy.
He said that since the start of ongoing month, the rupee has been devalued by Rs.16.41 approximately which in turn has raised country's external debt by more than Rs.1400 billion. He said that recent surge in dollar prices has shown that market powers are playing freely.The LCCI President said that surge in dollar price will badly affect manufacturing sector as raw material price and cost of doing business will go up. He feared that Pakistan's ranking in ease of doing business will sink down that is already not encouraging.
He said that devaluation of rupee will cause high inflation and halt growth by hitting all the important sectors of economy. He said that dollar price will lead to increase in import costs and hike in POL prices etc. He said that an unchecked increase in the dollar rates is multiplying the cost of doing business and badly affecting the industrial, manufacturing and agriculture sectors as Pakistan has to import fertilizers, food items, oil, machinery and industrial raw material.
Almas Hyder said that the government, Ministry of Finance and State Bank of Pakistan need to ascertain the factors weakening the value of rupee and check the possibilities of undue speculations and panic buying. This will help stabilize rupee and restore the confidence of the business community."Government should take immediate measures to arrest further devaluation of rupee to avoid more damages to the economy, the LCCI President said and added that though the weaker rupee benefits the exporters by giving them more rupees per dollar, but this benefit is neutralized by the costly imported inputs of manufacturing sector including textiles thus eroding the financial advantage of a weaker rupee.
