(06 December 2017)
President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President AKIA, Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain recent bond auction worth 2.5 billion dollars has comforted the local currency.
Now the local currency is set to gain ground against the dollar which came under pressure due to dharna in Islamabad, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that bond auction has not only improved forex reserves but also resulted in the confidence of local and foreign investors.
The interest rates offered by Pakistan should not be compared with interest offered by other countries are every country has been facing its own unique situation, he added.
The veteran business leader said that the country will need at least ten billion dollars to avoid problems while another loan from the IMF is unlikely therefore exports, remittances and investment should be promoted.
The export package should be implemented without further delay while refunds should be released to ease liquidity problems of the exporters.
The expatriates should be given incentives to send their money through legal channels while political tensions should be eased to boost the morale of local and foreign investors.
The last year’s current account deficit was over twelve billion dollars which can jump to seventeen billion dollars in the next year to hit the mark of 23 billion dollars by 2019-20, the former minister warned.
Mian Zahid Hussain added that exporters are demanding ten percent devaluation in the value of rupee while an international institution has suggested 23 percent devaluation which would be an economic suicide. The solution to this is for boost in exports power and gas tariff must be reduced.
