The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Wednesday said the government has gotten a big relief from the fall of the dollar, but the people did not get any relief yet, which is surprising.
The improved exchange rate has reduced the debt as well as interest payments while relief can be seen in the overall imports including that of petroleum products, it said.
Oil has become cheaper in the international market, but the people were given small relief which is meaningless, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President of PEW.
The government should not celebrate the stability of the value of the rupee, but take full advantage of it, he added.
He said that as soon as the dollar becomes expensive, the traders increase the price of everything including items stocked before the dollar became expensive.
However, the business community would never reduce prices to provide some relief to the masses if the value of the dollar is reduced, he observed.
Dr. Murtaza Mughal said that traders would give various baseless excuses to keep the prices of different items unchanged and the government has never tried to stop this profiteering.
Dr. Mughal said that 220 million people were affected by the depreciation of the rupee, while exporters kept benefitting for years but after the appreciation of the rupee, they started demanding subsidies, rebates, cheap energy and other incentives.
Exporters should not get undue relaxations as they have made unbelievable profits for the last four years due to the depreciation of the rupee.
