F.P. Report
WASHINGTON: The Pakistani rupee will not be devalued any further, the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs, said early Saturday morning, reiterating his comments from last month when he said the currency would “remain stable” after having “found its optimum value”.
Miftah Ismail, the premier’s financial adviser, noted that growth in fiscal year 18 (FY17-18) was registered at 5.8 percent. He added that the figure would rise upwards of 6.0 percent in the upcoming fiscal year.
During an interview with Bloomberg, a leading American media outlet focusing on stock markets and finance, he explained: “We have had 5.8 percent growth this year, and even last year’s growth was revised upwards to 5.4 percent.
“Next year, we are targetting 6.25 percent growth … so, I think with the new power plants coming in — that we have installed with the help of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor — [and] with other economic activities coming into play for next year, I’m very confident that we should be able to get to 6.25 percent of GDP growth.”
The adviser noted the two times the Pakistani rupee was devalued, which, coupled with an inflation rate that is not worrisome, means there would no “further need for the devaluation right way”.
“I thought the right thing to do was to devalue the currency, (which) we did twice — 5 percent in December, 5 percent in March, luckily, there hasn’t been any inflation in Pakistan, so far the inflation is less than 4 percent for the first nine months, so the government of Pakistan has a lot of policy choices.
“I see good things happening right now, and I don’t see any further need for the devaluation right way,” he said.
