Traders, industrialists, importers and economists have opposed the idea of devaluation of rupee, terming it as injurious to economy and calling the suggestion as very ridiculous.
They said: "The minds of the people who are demanding devaluation of rupee were stuck up with the 1990s era when the dollar-rupee exchange rate was managed by State Bank of Pakistan."
Muhammad Younas, Chairman of All Pakistan Bedsheet & Upholstry Manufacturers Association (APBUMA), Muhammad Yousaf, Chairman of Pakistan Tanners Association, Anis Ahmed, President of Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), said that devaluation of currency was not in favour of the country's economy and it would help in increasing the prices of imported items. They urged the government to abstain from taking advice and dictation from IMF regarding devaluation and adopt some other measures to enhance exports and to curb the unwanted growth of trade deficit.
However, State Bank officials here said that it was very strange that some people were proposing devaluation of the rupee when they know that neither the State Bank nor the federal government had been controlling the exchange rates.
They ruled out the possibility of devaluation of rupee, and said that open market would continue to determine the strength of the rupee vis-a-vis US dollar. The IMF proposal of devaluation of rupee has been widely condemned by industrialists, manufacturers, and even exporters.
They said that the devaluation of rupee would neither support the exports nor provide any benefit to the economy. "The cost of production, inflation and price hike would further trigger in case the government accepted the IMF recipe," they said.