Businessmen in a meeting at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) chaired by Zahid Maqbool, President ICCI showed great concern over 40 percent devaluation of rupee against US dollar since May 2007 which has now plunged to an all time low of more than Rs.84 against one dollar and called upon the government to take urgent measures to bring some stability in the falling value of rupee.

Zahid Maqbool said continuing downslide of rupee has almost halted economic growth in the country, badly hitting all the important areas of economy from agriculture to industry; manufacturing to import of goods; IT sector to students studying abroad for higher education apart from increasing country’s foreign debt servicing liabilities.

He said that rupee has fallen more than 25 percent from May 2008 to Dec: 2009 putting a negative impact on the economy and adversely affecting all sectors including business and consumers. He said if government did not take action to control the depreciation of currency, people will soon face a new wave of dearness and price hike.

Businessmen said that depreciation of rupee is also multiplying the cost of doing business and badly hitting industrial, manufacturing and agriculture activities as Pakistan has to import fertilizers, food items and industrial raw material.

They said only the import of petrol has witnessed an increase of 274 percent in Nov-Dec: 2009 compared to the same period of last year due to low refineries production and reduced availability of CNG. If this trend continued, rupee will come further under pressure as country is experiencing falling exports and rising imports.

Zahid Maqbool said continuous power and gas suspension to industry  has squeezed the possibilities of producing export surpluses due to which country may face a decline in foreign exchange earnings in coming days, which will further plunge the rupee down. Therefore, he stressed upon the government to devise a comprehensive strategy to overcome power problems and increase exports.

One solution of enhancing exports is to encourage investment. He said many sectors of economy including power offer great opportunities for local and foreign investors and government should take all possible measures to ensure complete security as investors need absolute security of their capital.