The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry has strongly resented the volatility of rupee against dollar as it has shaken the confidence of business community and would cause devastating impact on the overall economy. It called upon the SBP to immediately intervene in order to stabilize rupee against dollar that was vital for saving the economy from disastrous consequences of currency fluctuation. Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry termed SBP responsible for currency fluctuation as instead of allowing importers forward cover facility, SBP allowed exporters forward booking and future hedging that has led to the sharp fall in the value of rupee. He said that approximately USD 200-300 million were expected on due dates of forwarding booking, but non-maturity of this amount has created shortage of dollars in the market leading to sharp fall in the value of rupee. He said that due to Covid-19, all major export markets of Pakistan have been badly hit due to which export orders for Pakistani products have declined. He said that keeping in view the emerging situation of Covid-19, SBP should have visualized the whole scenario as it was very likely that spread of Covid-19 in our major export markets would dampen demand for our exports. Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that Pakistan mostly depended on imported capital goods and raw material to meet the needs of local industry, but the falling value of rupee would make all imported goods and raw material highly costly. It would also enhance the cost of debt servicing leading to more pressure on our forex reserves. He said that due to rise in the cost of imports, production cost would further go up that would affect the competitiveness of our exports. He said Pakistan’s imports were much higher compared to its exports and rupee depreciation would thus bring more problems to the overall economy. He cautioned that if rupee continued to fall, it would badly affect the trade and industrial activities leading to bankruptcy of many SMEs. He, therefore, called upon the SBP to make immediate intervention to bring stability in the value of domestic currency as the continuous fall in the value of rupee would hike the cost of imports manifold. He further stressed that SBP should lift ban on forward cover facility for importers by allowing them future hedging of imports so that they could be saved from the disastrous consequences caused by a volatile local currency.