Talking about the rising value of the US dollar in Pakistan, FinanceMinister Ishaq Dar has pointed his finger at currency speculation andsmuggling of the greenback on a large scale.
The finance minister was speaking at the 2nd Pakistan Prosperity Forum inIslamabad on Wednesday.
He pointed out that the dollar’s value was increasing on the back ofcurrency speculation by some market players and its smuggling toneighbouring countries. He underscored the need to stem these two things.
The minister informed that the government has recently launched operationsto check smuggling of foreign currency and other commodities.
“Dollars are being smuggled out from the country on a large scale. Duringthe last 24 hours, our customs department arrested a person on Chamanborder who was trying to smuggle $100,000 across the border,” he added.
He said not only the US dollars, but urea is also being smuggled out of thecountry. He held that there is great difference in prices of local andimported urea.
Lashing out at the policies of previous government, the finance ministersaid there was an unbearable increase in the country’s debt during itstenure.
Read Top Stories
“During the last four years, the country’s foreign debts have risen from$30 trillion to $54 trillion. Increase in loans is a very big problem forthe country,” he added.
Dar said that the economic management had completely failed during theprevious regime.
He said that the foreign lenders must realize that Pakistan is facing aforex currency crunch.
He maintained that the previous PML-N government had completed the IMFprogramme in 2017 and had reviewed all the economic choices to decrease theforeign borrowing. He said Pakistan was about to join the G20 group.
Enumerating the country’s economic banes, Finance Minister Dar also saidthat the tax collection has always been a big problem in Pakistan.
