Lahore: Pakistan Industrial & Traders Associations Front (PIAF) on Saturday said that massive fall of rupee value continued to damage the economy, as the rupee witnessed a huge depreciation from Rs123 against the US dollar in 2018 to Rs177 in Dec 2021, a decline of more than 30% over the last three years- one of the highest devaluations of local currency in Pakistan’s history. PIAF Senior Vice Chairman Nasir Hameed and Vice Chairman Javed Siddiqi, in a joint statement issued here, observed that besides increasing exports and controlling imports the government will have to take administrative measures, as a large demand of cash dollars are seen in the market. Nasir Hameed argued that this devaluation of the currency was dictated by the IMF through prior actions and it has nothing to do with macroeconomic fundamentals. He said that there was a complete breakdown of economic policymaking as the country’s fiscal policy had become subservient to monetary and exchange rate policies. He said that the monetary tightening and exchange rate depreciation resulted in higher inflation, public debt and debt servicing. The empirical evidence showed that the one percent monetary tightening hiked the inflationary pressure by 1.3 percent in the case of Pakistan. He said that the US dollar continued to rise against the rupee, reaching a record high of Rs178 in interbank trade amidst growing current account deficit. Online
