Continued Devaluation A Recipe For Disaster: Islamabad Chamber

Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders (ICST) on Wednesday said rupee has been eroded by thirteen percent during the last six months pushing tens of millions of people below the poverty line.

slamabad, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Jun, 2018) : Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders (ICST) on Wednesday said rupee has been eroded by thirteen percent during the last six months pushing tens of millions of people below the poverty line.

However, targets like a substantial increase in exports and reduction in imports cannot be achieved while continued erosion in the exchange rate has exposed the vulnerability of the economy, it said.

� Those who claimed to make the country an Asian Tiger borrowed trillions in the garb of development and now some economic managers consider devaluation an alternative to the reforms, said Patron Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders Shahid Rasheed Butt.

� Masses continue to pay for the inefficiency and greed of the economic managers while policy to keep masses and the business community in the dark about important economic matters is fanning uncertainty.

� Shahid Rasheed Butt said that erosion in the exchange rate will not reduce imports and increase exports significantly but it will slow down the economy and hit GDP. The central bank would increase interest rates which will add to the miseries of the business community.

� He said that the former government continued to claim economic turnaround which was largely cosmetic while the IMF, World Bank and dozens of other international institutions lauded the economic policies of PML-N which proved wrong hitting their credibility.

� Pakistan can never experience economic stability as long as it obeys the dictates of western institutions, he said. � The business leader said that the caretaker setup should take needed steps without delay as leaving critical matters to the next government may prove harmful for the country.