Lahore: Caretaker Minister for Commerce Gauhar Ijaz has predicted that the dollar will rise to Rs 260.
He expressed these views while addressing a high-level meeting and press conference at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Optima House along with the Caretaker Federal Minister for Energy Muhammad Ali. Gohar Ejaz said that we are trying to make Pakistan stand on its feet, the textile industry is standing with the government and energy is the biggest issue for us.
Federal Minister Gohar Ejaz predicted that the dollar will reach 260 and said that 260 rupees is the exchange rate today.
Gohar Ejaz said that we have to go with the state and trade is the profession of prophets. He said that the target of increasing exports to 37 billion dollars this year has been set, of which seven and a half billion dollars will be met by textiles while the remaining two and a half billion dollars will be met by the rest of the industry.
Gohar Ejaz said that today the exchange rate of the dollar has reached 260 rupees, those who have kept the dollars outside should order them, those who have kept the dollars should get them white. He said that concrete measures are being taken in relation to Afghan transit trade and under this only the goods which are needed will be allowed to come.
He said that one of the major reasons for the increasing value of the dollar is the Afghan transit trade, which is now being strictly monitored so that the value of the dollar does not increase due to it and to prevent smuggling. Afghan transit trade, which was worth 4 billion dollars, has gone up to 6 and a half billion dollars, which has been reviewed and it has been found that many goods were sold here instead of going to Afghanistan.
He said that raw materials are imported for the industry, while the price of energy is also linked to the international price. Due to currency devaluation, exports did not benefit but decreased.
The Federal Minister said that the President of Lahore Chamber has correctly identified the problems and as a businessman, he is raising them on the relevant platform. He said that this year the export target is to increase to 37 billion dollars. Disparity in gas supply and prices in different parts of the country affected the development process. The price of electricity in the region is seven cents while in our country it is fourteen cents, so how can we compete with these countries? Except for textiles, the manufacturing of all other sectors of the country is five billion dollars while Ethiopia’s is ten billion dollars. There is no shortage of dollars in the country, in August there were imports of 4 billion 20 million dollars while exports of 2 billion dollars, remittances of 2.1 billion dollars came in this period, if we look at these statistics, we had a surplus of 100 million dollars.
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