After attending a meeting of the Senate's standing committee, Secretary Commerce Munir Qureshi said: "We are going to give a detailed presentation to the Prime Minister on December 21 and hopefully, the Premier will give us the go-ahead signal." Differences among the Planning Commission of Pakistan, Commerce Ministry and other stakeholders had delayed the announcement of the policy, he said.
During the committee meeting, senators expressed serious concerns over the depreciation of Pakistani rupee against US dollar and said that the situation was alarming in view of the silence of the economic managers. They said that the government should take immediate steps to the control the damage, otherwise it would trigger another wave of inflation.
Senator Haji Saifullah Khan Bangash suggested that the government should motivate overseas Pakistanis to invest in the country and said that at present, no foreign investor was ready to make investment in Pakistan.
Responding to the suggestion of Senator Bangash, Munir Qureshi said that his ministry would take necessary steps to motivate Pakistanis abroad to invest in the country. He also informed the committee that after consulting Pakistani missions abroad, the Commerce Ministry will hold a conference for prospective investors.
"Today, Pakistani rupee is facing a serious challenge and to deal with the challenge, we need a special team of economists, but government officials seemed unconcerned in this regard," Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan said. The committee members also directed relevant quarters to take preventive measures to curb the flood of imported good in local markets, saying that the trend would destroy the local industry.
Senators also said that Pakistan may suffer a decline in international investment after granting Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India, adding that investors might prefer to invest in the bigger market. They said that the government should complete its homework before making any decision in this regard. To determine reasons behind the depreciation of Pakistani Rupee and lack of foreign investment in the country, the committee decided to constitute a sub-committee, which will hold a meeting every week and present its finding to the committee and parliament.