ISLAMABAD: Business community here on Sunday lauded the government decision to reduce dollar value and said that it was in line with the national interests and the reduced value of dollar would benefit economy as well as masses of country.

They urged the government for implementing the decision as soon as possible as the masses had started to reserve dollars due to rumors of devaluation and reports of some international institutions had also played role in increasing the demand for the greenback, they added.

In a statement Atif Ikram Sheikh former President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) said that the masses had purchased around 800 million dollars during the last three months resulting in a crisis like situation.

But now, he said that the government had decided to intervene and reduce the value of the dollar by one rupee in two or three phases which was praiseworthy as it would benefit the economy, he added .

He said that dollar was available at Rs105.50 in the interbank market while its value in the open market was Rs 107.55 while the difference should not be more than a rupee.

The demand of the exporters to devalue the currency was not justified as it would not boost exports but inflation would hurt the whole population of the country, he observed.

Atif Ikram said that reputable currency dealers should also be allowed to receive remittances while the importers of gold, cars and other commodities should be allowed to buy dollars from the open market which would end their reliance on the underground market.

Such a step would help shrink the underground dollar market and boost legal business, he remarked.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2017
 

 

Comments

Comments are closed.