LAHORE - Terming uncontrolled surge in exchange rate of dollar a big blow to the business activities, Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry has urged the government to immediately intervene in the matter.
LCCI President Almas Hyder said that surge in dollar price would badly affect manufacturing sector as raw material price and cost of doing business would go up. He said that devaluation of rupee would cause high inflation and halt growth by hitting all the important sectors of economy. He said that dollar price would lead to increase in import costs, hike in POL prices etc.
Almas Hyder said that the government needed to ascertain the factors weakening the value of rupee and check the possibilities of undue speculations and panic buying. This would help stabilize rupee and restore the confidence of the business community. He said that an unchecked increase in the dollar rates was badly affecting the industrial, manufacturing and agriculture sectors as Pakistan has to import fertilizers, food items, oil, machinery and industrial raw material.
LCCI Senior Vice President Khawaja Shahzad Nasir and Vice President Fahim-ur-Rehman Sehgal said that the government should take immediate measures to arrest further devaluation of rupee to avoid more damages to the economy. They said though weaker rupee benefits the exporters by giving them more rupees per dollar, but this benefit was neutralized by the costly imported inputs of manufacturing sector including textiles thus eroding the financial advantage. They said that if the greenback continued upward flight, it would certainly inflate import bill besides lowering the competitiveness of Pakistan’s business and industry.