LAHORE: The Pakistan Carpet Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PCMAEA) while congratulating Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on signing an agreement with the IMF said that the government is requested to keep the dollar at a stable level as exports are adversely affected due to fluctuations in the dollar.
These views were expressed by senior vice-chairman Usman Ashraf, central leader Abdul Latif Malik, chairperson of Carpet Training Institute Ejazur Rehman, senior member Riaz Ahmed, Saeed Khan, Shahid Hasan Sheikh, Kamran Razi and Tahir Abbas in a joint statement issued here on Monday.
They said that due to the uncertainty of the dollar, exporters are reluctant to do foreign deals. They further said that the government should focus on stabilizing the foreign exchange reserves by bringing in foreign exchange through exports and remittances to give direction to the faltering economy.
They said that due to the dollar not being stable at one level, there are difficulties in importing raw materials and signing the contract with the foreign buyers at a certain rate and the next day the situation is completely different due to the fluctuations of the dollar, which the exporters have to bear the entire burden.
“The policy makers are requested to consult the stakeholders and take a unanimous and solid decision regarding the dollar,” adding they said depreciation of the dollar increases our imports, which has a negative impact on our foreign exchange reserves.
They said that the cost of production has increased drastically due to expensive utility bills, excessive freight charges and increase in labor wages by the government because of which we are out of competition with rival countries in global markets and besides this, the negative effects are coming in the form of reduction in the volume of exports.
He said that obtaining loans from international financial institutions and friendly countries is a temporary solution, if we want to stand on our own feet, the government should remove the obstacles in the way of exports because exports are the lifeblood of the economy.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023