President Dr Arif Alvi on Sunday urged citizens to support the country in economic crises and avoid using imported products.
In a tweet, the president exhorted the nation to consider the pressure on Pakistani rupee. “We must try to avoid luxury goods and avoidable imported purchases.”
He added: “If you put your mind to it there is a long list of daily use imported products. This is what we must do together.” Finance Minister Asad Umar on Friday said the federal government would no more artificially control the currency value, which analysts read as the beginning of the implementation of prior actions suggested by the International Monetary Fund for a bailout package.
On Friday, rupee hit an all-time low of Rs 139.05 versus the US dollar in the inter-bank market. In the early hours of the day, the rupee hit an intra-day record low of Rs 144 to the greenback.
Published in Daily Times, December 3rd 2018.
