KARACHI: Federal Finance Minister Asad Umar has said that Pak Rupee was very over-values and it caused much loss to the national economy and added the local currency had attained market equilibrium and there was no need for further devaluation.
Speaking through video link at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday said, “The real effective exchange rate was at Rs127 in January, which has now attained equilibrium as categorically noted by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).”
“IMF is not advising to devalue the currency. Currency value is not even discussed with the Fund,” Asad Umar said adding the rupee must be aligned with the market fundamentals.
Asad Umar said Pakistan’s economy was no more than $350 billion while the world’s economy was around $70 trillion world, “We need to tap that market otherwise Pakistan economy would not grow. We have to be part of the global community and if we don’t then we can adopt whatever security policy, foreign policy and financial policy we want, and live in isolation like North Korea”.
Asad Umar said government had taken tough decisions and addressed issued pending since decades. “The way we run the economy should match the global financial architecture and meet the global economic standards; the benefits would be substantial”.
He said there had been so many complications in business after 18 amendment and 7th NFC award and informed the preparations for National Finance Commission Awards were underway and for the first time a working group on ease of doing business was formed. “We want to facilitate the businesses.”[the_ad id=”31605″]