The rupee has been stabilizing against the US Dollar after striking an all-time inter-day low on Wednesday.
Deputy Governor State Bank of Pakistan Dr. Murtaza Saeed’s threat that the speculators who had pointed towards a further fall were wrong seems to have worked as the Rupee is finally stabilizing against the greenback.
Many experts last night took to Twitter to mention that the Deputy Governor SBP Dr. Murtaza Saeed had warned speculators in a private TV show named “Dunya Kamran Khan Kay Saath”, hosted by anchorperson Kamran Khan.
An economic journalist posted on his Twitter that the Deputy Governor was right and his speculation seemed to have worked as PKR/USD is trading below 168.
Kamran Khan uploaded a short clip of Dr. Saeed explaining the crisis, in which the Deputy Governor SBP explained the reasons for the rupee devaluation.
Dr. Saeed said, “We at State Bank are watching the developments very closely and we believe that there are some fundamental factors for the devaluation of the rupee.”
“Our trade deficit has increased because the economic growth in the country is picking up, and along with that, international commodity prices are rising, impacting the import bill, he said, adding, “and then if some people start speculating, they must remember that they will be the losers at the end of the day.”
Dr. Saeed while mentioning the average exchange rates between Calendar year 2020 and calendar year 2021 said that we saw that the average had fallen yearly and reiterated that the bank believed that the current system of the bank was working better than the previous system.
He at the end again warned the speculators that they would lose money at the end of the day if they kept believing that a further depreciation is inevitable because the system was not the same as before.
In his interview with Dawn on 12th September, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin had blamed the fall on the artificial demand of dollars created by speculators. However, he conceded that there is pressure on the exchange rate mainly because of speculation over the balance of payment issues and because of the upward surge in the import bills.
Tarin said, “This is not sustainable and has no base for support,” adding a warning to the speculators and predicted that it will come down. He added that the speculators would get benefits which would be temporary.
“The State Bank of Pakistan is watching the situation and will intervene when required,” the minister told Dawn.
