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:
@ Umar Akbar,
how right you are Sir, and the shair was so appropriate!
thanks
Rafay Kashmiri
Well, a small good news. Pak foreign exchange reserves have increased slightly (by $180 million) to reach a total of $8.32 billion mark. This is first increase since June 2008.
@ One can see Pak-bashing made
you guys completely blind, do’nt you
know what is going on out there since 7/10 ?
Bankruptcies, insolvencies, nationalizations,
interest rates, unemployement disaster, Govt.
interventions, Europeen Bank’s resuce fund of
360 Billions of Euro, IMF’s Strauss-Kahn announces
urgent sum of 1.400 billions of US$ required for
rescue. Does Pak Rupee exist in Mirz’s Janat ??
Its really pendoo !
For those of you seriously interested in the facts, here’s an excerpt from a report from Business Recorder of Oct, 2007 titled: “KSE shows 38 percent growth in fiscal year 2007: report”
Here it is:
“The market capitalisation also grew at a remarkable rate of 43 percent, reaching its peak at over Rs 4 trillion ($66 billion). However, despite the healthy run-up witnessed on the bourse, the ready market turnover during FY07 averaged 221 million shares, which was the lowest since FY02, as a result of which the average daily value also shrank to a three-year low of Rs 22 billion.
The KSE saw a total of 16 new listings and 12 companies offering equity, which set out to raise Rs 6.3 billion, including premium in FY07. It included OGDC’s second issue, which accounted for 38 percent of the total size.
This was against the earlier year’s total 14 new listings, including 12 public offerings to the tune of Rs 6.5 billion. The subdued interest was observed by the private sector, due mainly to lack of tax incentives for listed companies and the stringent requirements of corporate governance.
At the end of the financial year, 658 companies remained listed on the Exchange. Like equity markets, corporate debt market also witnessed three new listings of Term Finance Certificates (TFCs) valued at Rs 6 billion.
Dog bites man is not news- man bites dog, is. In the same way, collapsing economy under Mr 10 percent and his loyalists, is not news.
What does the Pakistani nation expect from the PPP government with their shameless backtrackings, their 24/7 state-sponsored propaganda and all-around-clueless behaviour?
‘Jab maseeha dushman e jaan ho, to ho kioonkar ilaaj,
Kone rehbar ho mera jab Khizr behkanay lagay’
PS Apologies: These metaphors have been very, very loosely applied to the current situation. Asif Ali Zardari-Bhutto and his mates are not Messiahs or leaders, not by a long shot, but by design or by default, they are at the helm of this rudderless ship.