ISLAMABAD: Pakistan should minimize its dependency on dollar through bilateral trade in local currency and minimize import payments for economic stability, said DG of International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) Prof Dr. Abdur Rashid while talking to WealthPK.
Dr Rashid said the country’s current economic and financial position was not stable due to rupee depreciation against dollar and political instability.
“Pakistan’s economic condition will be stable by utilizing assets in a proper way and stopping or decreasing unnecessary import payments. Pakistan has sufficient assets in both public and private sector. Natural resources are a big asset but there is a need to allocate and utilize them.’’
“There’s always a problem with Pakistan on the liability side and there’s always a tough situation in terms of foreign reserves. There are also debt and payment issues. Payment issue is the bigger one and the government should minimize import payments,” Dr Rashid said.
“Another issue is how to earn dollars. There are few main ways to earn them. The first is to bring Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Pakistan and to sell our assets and automatically we will earn dollars. The second and permanent way is to increase exports and improve the quality and durability of our primary exports, make them cost-effective and deliver them on time,’’ the IIUI director general said.
“Another way to increase foreign reserves is the foreign remittances, which is 30 billion dollars,’’ he said.
“We should produce our own commodities and establish small factories of many things. There is a large consumption of edible oil in Pakistan. We should produce our own oil from many things like peanuts, potato, and maize,’’ Dr Rashid continued.
He said Pakistan will come out of the current unstable situation with the release of $1 billion by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). China had already given $2.5 billion to Pakistan which will help stabilize Pakistan’s economy.
“The government should buy a cheaper product; it should buy basic necessities and ban all luxury goods for some time. The best alternative is our own production. Fuel is the basic consumption. The alternative is the hydropower projects and wind energy.’’
“We should minimize dollar dependency through bilateral trade in local currency with China, Afghanistan, Turkey, etc. Also, we should minimize import payments. For example, luxury food items and cars should be banned and we should find out alternatives to these listed things,” Dr Rashid suggested.
Dr Rashid said Roshan Digital Account was a very useful way to attract foreign remittances and the government should give investment opportunities to the overseas Pakistanis. There are nine million Pakistanis in foreign countries who send $30 billion annually to Pakistan through this medium, he added.
