RIZWAN BHATTI

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday assured Exchange Companies that the government has no plan to devalue Pak rupee against the dollar.

During a meeting with representatives of Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP), the State Bank officials urged ECs to make efforts to bring the exchange rate down in open currency market.

The State Bank called an urgent meeting of Exchange Companies on Monday at its head office to discuss issues relating to exchange rate. The meeting was chaired by Syed Irfan Ali, Executive Director, SBP and attended by Zafar Paracha the General Secretary ECAP, representative of exchange companies and officials of the SBP.

Irfan Ali expressed concern over increasing rates of USD in open currency market saying there is no justification for such an increase. He assured the meeting that federal government has no plan to further devalue Pak rupee.

He said there is no shortage of US dollar in the country and the supplies of cash US dollar are available in sufficient quantity with the central bank. He also committed adequate dollar supply as per demand for maintaining exchange rate at a reasonable level.

He advised exchange companies to refrain from speculations/rumors and to avoid the unnecessary purchasing of US dollar otherwise they will bear loss as the rate of US dollar will come down in future. The State Bank also asked exchange companies to reduce the widening gap in interbank and open market rates.

During the meeting, Zafar Paracha, General Secretary, ECAP said that exchange rate will come down with adequate supply of US dollar. He also raised the issue of dollar smuggling and requested the SBP to take concrete measures in this regard.