PM Imran Khan caught in surprise
Shares
ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan seemed irked with the uninformed sudden spike in dollar rate that caught him with surprise.
PM Khan has asked the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to inform in advance in case of any changes in the US dollar rates.
According to Bloomberg, Prime Minister Khan told reporters on Monday that he found out about the devaluation through press reports and that the planned committee will help the central bank smooth currency volatility.
Pakistan’s government plans to make the central bank report any planned currency adjustments to a committee, a move seen to curb the regulator’s independence as the nation negotiates an International Monetary Fund bailout, Bloomberg claimed.
This “would clearly mean curtailing the powers of the central bank in independent decision-making,” said Amreen Soorani, the deputy head of research at JS Global Capital Ltd. in Karachi. “It will be a clear negative for the economy and it might create a bottleneck in the IMF negotiations.”
