KARACHI: Sept 19: US dollar depreciated on Tuesday by another Rs 1.85 in interbank and Rs 1 in open market as law enforcing agencies (LEAs) keep chasing the currency smugglers across Pakistan.
The LEAs agencies have conducted raids in all major cities in the last one and half weeks and nabbed many currency dealers who were found involved in currency smuggling and “Hundi”.
LEAs have also enhanced vigilance at borders to check dollar smuggling from Pakistan to Afghanistan and Dubai.
As a result of harsh action by LEAs, dollar rates have dropped down in the open market to Rs 296 and greenback traded today (Tuesday) at Rs 294.75.
In the last few years, Afghanistan has become a hub for smuggling of US dollar and it damaged Pakistan economy more than anything else. Unfortunately, this anti Pakistan activity boomed in two ‘Elected’ regimes of Pakistan Tehreek- e- Insaf (PTI) from 2018 to April 2022 and Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) spanning over 16 months
Both regimes showed criminal negligence when smuggling of US currency to Afghanistan had gone to alarming levels. This trend shows how Pakistan’s interests were compromised by these two ‘Elected’ governments.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is extremely objectionable. It rather than acting as a regulator, facilitated the banking mafia to exploit dollar market at home and make undue rather illegal profit on their investment.
SBP increased the interest rates to legalise undue rather unlawful profit of the banking sector. Pakistan’s banking sector is thriving as the central bank has provided it a golden opportunity to get unreasonably higher profit on lending to the government. The banks of Pakistan have been a new East India Company. This East India Company is making hundreds of billions of ‘profit’ from money lenders to the government.
