ISLAMABAD: Vice President of Pakistan Businesses Forum Ahmad Jawad has said that rupee devolution has sparked massive inflation in the country and increased country’s debts.

Talking to Business Recorder, he said, despite surplus current account deficit last year and record home remittances, there was no substantial correction in Rupee but today State Bank of Pakistan reserves stood at $ 17 billion, $ 2 billion are on the way which will be reflected in two to three months but still exchange rate is at Rs 175 against dollar.

“The current value of Rupee shows that Pakistan was forced for depreciation by international donors and it had nothing related with the fundamentals, he said.

Ahmad Jawad maintained that Prime Minister Imran Khan should understand where the country is heading in rupee, adding that appreciation of the Rupee is inevitable for the country.

He further said that the value of the Pakistani Rupee has fallen by 31 percent against the US dollar over the last three years and six months under the government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The Rupee which was Rs123 against the US dollar in August 2018 is now Rs178/ dollar, which has made it one of highest devaluations of the currency in the country’s history.

Similarly, in automobiles sector deprecation supported much of the country automobile players. They increased their prices about 70%. The prices of essential medicines had also risen. For the study, prices of 120 randomly selected medicines were analyzed from 2017 to 2021. During this period, a major jump was witnessed in 2019 when the average price soared to Rs585 against Rs410 in 2018.

According to the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) 15% increase was only allowed on medicines in 2018 due to abrupt devaluation of rupee. Even the prices of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) of the common medicine, which is imported from China over the past years owing to rupee depreciation, have increased manifolds.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022