Rupee devaluation: Senate body summons SBP governor

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, and Economic Affairs has summoned the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in its next meeting on the issue of devaluation of Pakistani rupee.In Tuesday’s meeting, the committee was told that devaluation of Pak rupee would help boosting the country’s foreign exchange reserves with the increase in country’s exports and foreign remittances, and decline in imports, and current account deficit. "Although positive consequence have started surfacing due to the devaluation of Pak rupee but real positive consequences would be felt after around a year," a representative of SBP informed the committee.

The meeting of the committee was presided over by its Chairman Senator Farooq H Naek and was attended by Ayesha Raza Farooq, Musadiq Malik, Mohsin Aziz, Muhammad Akram, Muhammad Ali Khan Saif, Fida Muhammad, Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Jahanzaib Khan and other officials of the Ministry of Finance and SBP.

The SBP official said the current sharp devaluation of Pak rupee injected a new life into Pakistan’s economy which was witnessed by the fact that during first quarter of fiscal year 2018-19, foreign remittances increased by 13 percent, trade deficit narrowed by 1.6 percent, and current account deficit also shrank by 2.6 percent. Farooq Naek said opening a bank account was right of everyone.He said in the next meeting the governor SBP must be present to provide valid reply to the reservations of the lawmakers, besides chairman Pakistan Banking Association and Banking Ombudsman should also be present in the next meeting.