KARACHI : The All Pakistan Forex Association (APFA) on Saturday proposed to the government to ban import of all kinds of luxurious vehicles and other unnecessary items to reduce fast -growing trade gap of the country.
APFA also proposed to the government to put on hold auto financing to stop misdirection of the funds and at the same time reduce consumption of petroleum products and so their import bill . Pakistan’s imports bill has doubled in the recent years mainly due to rising demand of petroleum products at home. Pakistan’s auto demand is growing at fast speed and auto loan facility is a key factor behind it. Pakistani banks are lending loans to individuals and corporate sector for auto sector at an average interest rates and this window is encouraging a sizable ratio of the public to buy the vehicles even if many of them do not have regular income to pay off instalments to the banks. Auto financing did provided a new market to the banks for business, but it damaged Pakistan indirectly. The banks, instead of providing loans for some productive sides like small and medium entrepenureship or other future focused projects and businesses, are putting in their funds for auto financing, a highly non productive side of the economy .
APFA gave a dozen of crucial proposals to help the country minimise impact of the on-going financial at a skype meeting called by Finance minister , Miftah Ismail , to take input from APFA to control the dollar -rupee parity and make the financial market of the country stable . The rising trend in dollar value against the rupee in recent weeks has created panic in Pakistan’s market . It has multiplied Pakistan’s financial vows besides stoking the inflation to an unmanageable level .
Bostan Khan, president APFA, who was among participants of Saturday’s on line meeting told NEWSMAN that the All Pakistan Forex Association put on table a set of proposals during the meeting chaired by Finance minister , Miftah Ismail, to help the government weather the on-going financial crisis of the country. He said ” APFA has proposed to the government to immediate ban imports of all luxurious vehicles and unnecessary items to plug in the widening trade gap in the current difficult times”. He added that the representatives of APFA also suggested to the government team to take notice of the State Bank of Pakistan’s policy of injecting dollars more than the banks demand and direct it to stop increasing inter bank rates of dollar verses the rupee. Mr Khan said ” The SBP ‘s policy of jacking up inter bank rates was one of the major reasons behind quick surge in dollar value vis a vis the rupee “.
Bostan Khan was pretty confident that the government could steer the country out of the current financial crisis by implementing the proposals given by APFA in Saturday meeting . He said Pakistan can save $ 1 billion per month just by priortising its imports and making prudent use of its economic resources . “It’s not a big deal to save $1 billion per month ($12 billion a year ) just by discouraging unnecessary imports and sail through these bad times even san financial support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other multi national lending institutions”, Mr Khan concluded .
