KARACHI: The Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) has welcomed the government’s decision to create a Trading Portal for Spot Transactions of foreign Exchange to facilitate Importers, Exporters and Industry.
The portal, which was announced in the budget for FY2023-24, is aimed at streamlining the process of buying and selling of foreign exchange for import/export trade and preventing manipulation and leakages of foreign currency.
The KCCI leadership, in a joint statement, thanked Federal Minister for Finance & Revenue Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar and Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Jameel Ahmed for adopting the budget proposal of KCCI and giving due consideration to the issues faced by the business community.
They said that the spot trading portal will help in eliminating Hawala/Hundi transactions that have resulted in heavy loss of foreign exchange to the country and have been used to finance money laundering, cross border smuggling and under-invoicing.
They also said that the portal will facilitate import of raw materials which in turn will support the export-oriented industries and enhance exports.
They added that KCCI will fully support this much needed initiative and will continue to provide its input and suggestions to improve the working of the portal.
They emphasized that the portal should not allow purchase of foreign exchange for import of luxury goods including automobiles.
They also stated that the portal should be transparent and accessible to registered stakeholders including importers, exporters and individuals sending remittances to Pakistan.
They said that this will significantly narrow down the gap between interbank rates, open market as well as Hawala rates, resulting in diversion of remittances from grey channels to official banking channels.
They said that spot transactions will certainly help in increasing foreign exchange reserves and stop leakages.