KARACHI – Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Wednesday expressed concern over exchange rate erosion terming it damaging for the economy.
The rupee is weakening despite improved exports and remittances which is not good for the economy as the budget was planned to keep in mind the value of a dollar at Rs153 which has now climbed to Rs160, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the rise of the dollar will hit key budgetary projections, increase interest payments and make almost everything costly.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the weak rupee is making petrol, diesel, LNG, edible oil, wheat, sugar, pulses and many other things costly which in turn will collide with buying power of masses.
If the government opt to subsidize a few things, it will increase the budget deficit while the weak rupee is also contributing to high price and low imports of raw material and machinery used to manufacture export items.
He noticed that trade deficit which was 24 billion dollars in 2020 has increased to 30 billion dollars in June which need immediate steps.
The business leader noted that the central bank has helped the economy a lot and has kept interest rates unchanged to keep the momentum of economic revival therefore it should now accept the challenge of keeping the value of dollar in control.
The total foreign debt has increased to 118 billion dollars while 17 billion dollars have been borrowed from foreign sources during the last three years therefore further borrowing is not advisable
