Exchange firms to seek dollar supply

Delegation of companies will go abroad to meet expatriates

KARACHI:

Exchange companies have decided to bring more dollars into Pakistan by visiting foreign countries in a bid to shore up the country’s foreign exchange reserves and stabilise the rupee’s value against the US dollar.

Exchange Companies Association Chairman Malik Bostan took Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Finance Adviser Tariq Pasha into confidence in that regard in a meeting on Monday.

He told the finance minister that a delegation comprising members of the Exchange Companies Association would approach overseas Pakistanis for the supply of dollars and other foreign currencies.

Bostan emphasised that the association wanted to play its role in stabilising the rupee’s value and putting an end to the black market by boosting the flow of dollars into the country. He asked the finance minister to register FIR against those who sent foreign exchange through illegal means such as Hundi and Hawala.

Responding to that, Dar promised that he would issue instructions to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to lodge cases against the people resorting to illegal means for remitting foreign exchange.

“Action will also be taken against the buyers and sellers of dollars in the black market while Afghan transit trade will come under greater scrutiny to assess the movement of dollars and mis-declaration,” said the minister.

He pointed out that the authorities would strictly check the containers moving under transit trade to unearth irregularities.

Speaking at the meeting, Finance Adviser Tariq Pasha said that cases would be registered against the dealers working in the black market and the dollars and other foreign currencies circulating without proof would be seized.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2023.

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