‘Pakistan should not worry about currency devaluation’

Embassy of Japan official says govt should focus on development to boost growth

APP September 21, 2019

PHOTO: CREATIVE COMMONS/FILE

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan can enhance its economic growth by following the Japanese model, norms, and culture of education and development, said Embassy of Japan Deputy Mission Chief Yusuke Shindo.

While delivering a lecture at the Gateway Institute of Superior Services he said that Pakistan was transforming from a stabilisation period and therefore the government should not worry about the devaluation of the rupee.

"Even though Pakistan's debt has increased due to devaluation, the government should focus on development as only a higher and more stable economic growth can help Pakistan improve its exchange rate," he added.

Sharing the Japanese experience, he said that in 1971, the Japanese exchange rate was very high against the dollar which was 360 Japanese Yen (JPY) per dollar.

"After gaining momentum due to high growth rate, the exchange rate gradually improved, and today it is around 110 JPY per dollar," Yusuke added.

He said that in the 1960s when Japan took a loan from the World Bank the exchange rate was very high, however, when it repaid the loan the exchange rate reduced by 40%, which meant that Japan had to repay 40% less amount.

Similarly, he said that although Pakistan's debt had increased due to devaluation the government should focus on its development as only higher and stable economic growth could help in improving the exchange rate.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2019.

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COMMENTS (1)

Faisal | 4 years ago | Reply Quality will always trump quantity - 100% of the time!!!. In-case of Japan, due to a high human resource quality, the country was able to come out of the world war destruction and regain its economic might relatively quickly. This was also possible as there was almost negligible expenditure on defense, given US troops were stationed in Japan. However, with a hostile neighbor coupled with terrorists using the other neighbor's land freely, we need heavy expenditure for defense of our country. In the long run, improvement in our HR quality is the only way forward for sustainable growth however we will need some other measures to boost exports including looking for non traditional sectors / market to boost our exports.

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