Speculations main reason behind rupee devaluation: Asad Umar

ISLAMABAD, Apr 5 (APP):Minister for Finance Asad Umar on Friday said that speculations in the local money market had sparked the dollar value against rupee which was further ignited by the fake news being spread in the social media.
Talking to media persons here, the minister said there would be no further devaluation in rupee value as the State Bank of Pakistan had categorically made it clear that the supply and demand of dollar against rupee had reached to its equilibrium level.
The minister said that there was no condition by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the exchange rate or to devalue the rupee.
A currency should be aligned with the fundamentals, he said adding, the real effective exchange rate in January, 2018 was Rs 127 against US dollar, which was 27 percent overvalued at that time. He stressed the need for stopping these speculations for stabilization of local currency.
The minister said the statements of former finance minister who was a declared absconder and was responsible for destroying the national economy and putting it on the verge of collapse has also created speculations about dollar value.
He warned that all such speculators to stop spreading such rumors otherwise the government had the option of taking them to the court and deal with them according to the law.
Umar said the government of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf inherited a fragile economy with deepening fiscal deficit, increasing current account deficit, and declining foreign direct investment, adding that it also inherited US $19 billion current account deficit.
Whereas he said that in last regime, by July 25, 2018, the value of rupee against dollar reached to Rs 127 from Rs 105 in December 2017 witnessing a devaluation of Rs 22.
The minister admitted that there was a rise in inflation but it was still at the lower level when compared with the first eight months governments of Pakistan Peoples Party, and Pakistan Muslim League (N).
He said average inflation in first eight months of PML-N government increased from 8 percent to 10.9 percent whereas during first eight months of PTI government, average inflation increased from 6.9 percent to 9.4 percent which was lower as compare to previous governments.
Besides, the minister said investment in the country in first seven months of PTI government remained on upward trajectory as it stood at US $1,441 million as compared to US $ 573 million of investment during same time of the PML-N government.
With respect to the debts and liabilities, the minister informed that from December 2017 to June 2018, total debt increased by US $ 5.9 billion while it increased by US $ 3.5 billion during PTI government.
Meanwhile public debt during last six months of PML-N tenure was increased by US $ 3.7 billion whereas in same period of current government it increased by only US $1.4 billion.
The minister said when the government took measures for restructuring and straightening the fundamentals of national economy, the economic slow down occurred, adding that it would gain the momentum and would be on path of growth soon.
The minister said despite these challenges many sectors of the national economy were showing positive growth including industrial sector of the country as cement production grew by 1.7 percent, urea production by 5.9 percent, sale of automobiles by 4 percent, and gas supply by 6 percent.
The minister said previous government had presented fake figures of economic development including GDP growth, poverty, and other micro and macro economic indicators.
He said the incumbent government was sharing all its data and figures with the parliament through standing committees of national assembly and senate and seek their proposals for the betterment and development of the economy.
He said being the finance minister he had appeared before these committees and apprised the elected representatives about the factual economic situation of the country to keep up the sovereignty of the parliament.