KARACHI, Pakistan: The finance minister of Pakistan said on Monday that the country's currency will strengthen to under 200 rupees to the US dollar.
The rupee is currently at around 227 to the US dollar, and the currency has been in turmoil this year, falling as much as 30 per cent.
The real value of the rupee is under 200 to US $1 and, God willing, it will come below 200 rupees, Minister Ishaq Dar said in an interview with local television channel Geo News.
He said that the rupee would be strengthened even though government policies were inflated due to speculation.
In his fourth stint as finance minister, Dar has strongly favoured intervention in currency markets in the past.
Since Dar took over, the rupee has strengthened. According to central bank figures, Pakistan currently has only US $8 billion in reserves, barely covering a month of imports, making market intervention difficult to deal with through currency injections.
The country was only able to restart an International Monetary Fund IMF bailout package after agreeing to undertake difficult reforms.
One of the agreements was to implement a market-determined exchange rate and stop government intervention in the central bank.
Dar also defended his decision to slash fuel prices days after taking over - reversing a policy of raising prices monthly through added levies to ensure enhanced revenues as agreed with the IMF.
Dar said imposing additional levies was not justified because of the country's struggles with devastating floods that killed more than 1,600 people and inflicted at least US $30 billion in damages.
He said that I have been dealing with the IMF for the last 25 years and I will deal with it, referring to any potential reservations by the lender.