(April 22, 2020)
FPCCI’s Businessmen Panel SVP, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Wednesday said local currency is strengthening against the dollar despite a reduction in the interest rate, which is a perfect development.
Improved rupee will make imports economical providing relief to masses, reduce loans and push local companies to improve their production and quality to compete with the imported items, he said.
However, he said, local companies will need economical loans to improve their performance.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the situation demands a reduction of four percent in the mark up to strengthen the economy.
The former minister noted that the investors who pulled out billion from Pakistani markets faced heavy losses and now some of them have again started investing in Pakistan.
He said that unprecedented reduction in demand and oil price collapse has considerably reduced current account deficit and it may swing into surplus. The prices of many other items have been reduced in the international market which has started reducing local prices.
He said that Pakistan was supposed to repay 3.4 billion dollars during the current quarter which would be put pressure on forex reserves but the situation changed and IMF, WB as well as ADB is lending almost three billion dollars which has changed the situation in favour of the country.
He said that the government should try to get other loans rescheduled to propel the economy adding that the lockdown has taken a toll on small and medium businesses.
