Business community shows concerns over falling value of rupee
- June 22, 2020
The business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce
and Industry has shown great concerns over the dwindling value of rupee, which
has fallen to Rs.167 against a dollar and urged that government should take urgent
remedial measures to stabilize the rupee as its continuous depreciation would have
devastating impact on the business and economic activities.
Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce &
Industry said that Pakistan was mostly importing machinery, capital goods and raw
material for industrial production while some industries were importing up to 70
percent of raw material for manufacturing activities. However, the constantly falling
value of rupee would make the imports of these things very costly, that would
further enhance the cost of production making our exports more uncompetitive in
the international market besides increasing inflation for the common man. He said
this situation demanded that government should make urgent intervention to
stabilize the local currency in order to save the economy from further troubles.
ICCI President said that business community needed a stable currency to make
the end product cost effective. However, frequent fluctuations in the value of rupee
against dollar was thwarting all efforts of local industry to manufacture competitive
and cost effective end products in the country for local consumption and exports.
Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that falling value of rupee would also enhance
the cost of debt servicing leading to more pressure on our forex reserves. He said
Pakistan’s imports were much higher compared to its exports and rupee
depreciation would thus bring more problems to the overall economy as it would
further enhance the cost of doing business in the country. 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 and the
government to make urgent intervention in the matter and take strong measures to
stabilize the currency in order to save the economy from its destructive impact.