UNISAME calls for steps to curb further rupee depreciation

KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) has urged State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Syed Murtaza to take concrete measures to curb further rupee depreciation.

It also called for steps to ensure that the rupee regains its true value based on the price of gold and the rate of the dollar in the international market, according to which the parity rate works out to be Rs175 against the dollar.

The SBP may fix the rate at Rs175 to a dollar to stabilise the economy facing uncertainty, as importers and exporters are both not in a position to anticipate the cost of landed goods or the invoice value for exports.

UNISAME President Zulfikar Thaver said that what the country is witnessing is speculation of money exchange companies and the investors who are benefitting by making dollar a sort of parallel currency by parking all their undisclosed money in dollars.

Secondly, Afghanistan traders are buying dollars from Pakistan’s open market and creating shortage.

Thaver said that the Pakistan economy cannot bear anymore the burden of Afghanistan, which has been carrying on its activities of imports through Pakistan and indulging in full time trading via Pakistan in the name of transit trade.

The UNISAME Council experts said: “We welcome the genuine trade with Afghanistan and the facility of transit trade for Afghanistan as its exports and imports are routed through Pakistan but Afghani traders must not take advantage of this facility and arrange for its requirements of foreign currency through its own sources and procure the required dollars from the international market as per its own parity rates against the dollar. They can buy from the UAE or Singapore open markets.

The experts also urged the government to tighten the foreign exchange dealers and warn them to follow the rules and regulations and not indulge in arranging dollars for the money launderers and speculators and to cancel their licence if found guilty of this malpractice.

In fact, it would be wise to handover this exchange business to commercial banks who already have a full-fledged business of foreign currencies and if given this task they will be happy to widen their network at airports and trade centres, business plazas and malls.

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