Pakistan Doesn’t Need to Devalue Rupee in the Near Future: Miftah Ismail

Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance, Miftah Ismail, has said that Pakistan does not need any further devaluation of rupee in the near future.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Ismail said that Pakistan had to devalue its currency twice – first in December by five percent and then in March by five percent due to the increase in the trade deficit.

He added that the exports had captured the upward trend, increasing by 24 percent in March compared to a year ago.
He also said that trade deficit was too high, therefore it was the right time to devalue the currency twice and claimed that there has been no impact on inflation and so far the inflation remained under 4 percent.

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Pakistan’s exports rose the most before the currency was devalued during the past few months. The impact can be seen clearly below:

Regarding the low GDP grwoth, the adviser said that with the help of new power plants and with other economic activities in the next year, “We are confident that we should be able to get a 6.25* of GDP growth”.

He said the country achieved 5.8 percent growth this year, and even last year’s growth was revised upward to 5.4 percent.

He also highlighted the ongoing talks between the banks for taking commercial loans.

The Finance Adviser was on a visit to Washington to attend the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual spring meetings.

Finance Adviser Meets CEO World Bank

The Pakistani delegation, led by Miftah Ismail, participated in the IMF/World Bank spring meetings 2018 and attended a number of bilateral meetings on the sidelines at Washington.

Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Dr Miftah Ismail met with Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank, Kristalina Georgieva in Washington, and discussed WB’s portfolio in Pakistan as well as the future pipeline.

The Adviser, along with the Chairman Board of Investment (BOI), met with the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business team led by the Acting Chief Economist and apprised them of 75 reforms implemented by the government to improve business and investment environment in Pakistan.

He also met with a large delegation of US multinationals, members of the US-Pakistan Business Council, at the US Chamber and invited them to take advantage of investment opportunities available in Pakistan.

The Finance Adviser also participated in a dinner hosted by Bill Gates, co-chaired by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, for Finance Ministers of various developing countries.

The meeting deliberations focused on health financing initiatives in developing countries.