Do you remember an old adage:
‘ye cheez to Takkay ki nahiN hai’ (This thing is not worth a Takka).
Well, today the tables have turned. What was once true of BD Takka is now true for a Pakistani Rupee. As of today 1 Bangladeshi Takka equals 1.14 Pakistani Rupees . The phenomenal slide of Pakistani Rupee, which started around January 2008 continues unabated. Pakistani rupee is now trading at very close to 80 Rupees to a US dollar. Yahoo Finance was quoting Pakistani rupee at Rs 78.375 to a US dollar on October 6, 2008.
We also had a post on this topic back in May 25, 2008 when Rupee had slid down to Rs 68 for a dollar but this time slide in Rupee’s value seems like the steepest in history of Pakistan. Rupee has lost almost one third of its value in the past 10 months.
The question that everyone is asking is whether current Government is capable of controlling this situation or is it beyond anybody’s control.
Pakistan’s finance Minister (since May 12, 2008) is Mr. Naveed Qamar and atleast I’ve not heard anything from him about what are Government’s plans to bolster Rupee’s value or to stop fast depleting foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan (now down to approx $8.1 bn).
What is happening to a common person among all this turmoil is depicted well in a sher by Anwar Masood.
“jo dil pe guzarti hai raqam karte raheN ge”
kal tum ko bata deN ge raqam kitni bani hai
Reference:
Aamer Javed hold on to that 2% and just pray to Allah InshaAllah things will get better.
Well said – Aqil Sajjad.
I always wonder why in Pakistan do politics revolve around a person and not around a party (like in USA for example0 . Mind you it is not the best option either, but i would take that option any day, rather then seeing the same old nasty disgraceful faces for 20 years at a time.
btw, I am almost 98% close to giving-up hope in Pakistan.
There is an old Arabic saying: When you’ve got nothing, you still have laughter.
Things are looking bleak in Pakistan, but we should remain hopeful. We must ask ourselves: as individuals, is there something we can do to alleviate our country’s financial and political quagmire? Perhaps speak with our congressman? Send more remittances back home? Or may be take a dance class?
Most comments here are partisan and lack an understanding of the economy. Aqil Sajjad has given a fairly good explanation. It is basically a question of supply-and-demand.
Just to put things in perspective, in 1982, when the Rupee was allowed to float freely, it was roughly Rs 10 to 1 US dollar; in 1998, it was 40 to a dollar; by January 2008, it had eroded to 60 to a dollar in spite of the massive inflow of the foreign aid and remittances. Given the current local and global situation, I won’t be surprised if it falls even further in the coming months. By the way, where is Shortcut these days?
Ms Amina
“hum pe tou ilzaam waisay bhi tha, aisay bhi sahi”
We are not biased against anybody as a policy.
Personal biases may show up once in a while as our writers are humans and they have likes and dislikes.
You are free to make your own judgement.