No further rupee devaluation required in foreseeable future: Miftah Ismail
'We have [taken and] halted it at Rs 115, which is where the market will settle in a day or two'
March 22, 2018
KARACHI: Miftah Ismail, the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs, said Wednesday night the decision to devalue Pakistani rupee was taken after a thorough deliberation.
Speaking on Geo News' programme Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath, Ismail said thought and a consideration of the prevalent conditions were put into the move to bump up the price of the US dollar to Rs 115.
"We have [taken and] halted it at Rs 115, which is where the market will settle in a day or two."
He noted that the market will calm down to the level the dollar value has been set at soon despite the money exchange companies' large margin.
"Although the money [exchangers] right now are carrying quite a big gap, the market will settle at Rs 115.
"For the foreseeable future, this is enough … for the next six to eight months, a year … there is no need for further devaluation."
"The currency will remain stable at this level; the Pakistani rupee has found its optimum value," he said.
The adviser explained that the nation's exports and imports will now increase and decrease, respectively, and the current account issues will fade.
"Now, our exports will rise, our imports will slow down, and the current account difficulties will slowly go away."
Ismail also stressed that Pakistan was not entering any IMF (International Monetary Fund) programme.
'Healthy forex reserves at year-end'
Earlier, on Tuesday, Ismail had commented via Twitter that the "current devaluation is also a step in the right direction".
"This will further increase exports and slow down imports, without putting much pressure on prices.
"Moreover the increased cost of debt servicing is more than made up by the increased revenues at the import stage.
Ismail had termed the devaluation it "a good thing" that will "bring increased growth and jobs into the economy while addressing our current account deficit.
"Our economic growth this year will be the highest in 10 years and we will have healthy forex reserves at year-end," he wrote.
