LCCI urges to control devaluation

LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Monday urged the caretaker government and the central bank to control the rising dollar for the sake of the economy.

LCCI Acing President Muhammad Nadeem Qureshi said dollar has once again started to crush rupee, which would reignite high inflation and halt growth by hitting all the important sectors of the economy. He said the recent surge in the prices of the greenback would jack-up the input cost, hitting the export-oriented industries hard.

The LCCI official said though the weaker rupee benefits exporters by giving them more rupees per dollar, this benefit was neutralised by the costly imported inputs of the manufacturing sector, including textiles, thus eroding the financial advantage of a weaker rupee.

Qureshi said the State Bank of Pakistan needed to ascertain the factors weakening the value of rupee and check the possibilities of undue speculations and malpractices in the operation of foreign exchange markets in Pakistan. “This will help stabilise rupee and restore the confidence of the business community,” he added.