The Economic Advisory Council (EAC) raised concerns on Wednesday on the pressure building at the exchange rate, which was also reflected in the central bank’s data, which called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to investigate the matter to keep exports competitive.

During a meeting, some members of the nine members pointed advice against the real effective exchange rate (REER) -T target of the value of a currency against the average basket price of foreign currency-up increased to 104.05 in January 2025.

According to officials, this indicated that Rupien was overrated by 4%when Reer 100 was considered that Rupien had traded at a fair value and any movement above or below this threshold meant that the price does not reflect the true economic conditions.

However, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar differs with Reer and believes the rupe was underestimated by at least 15%. At present, Rupien is shopping over RS279 for a dollar in the last few days and remains stable for an extended period of time.

EAC, led by the Prime Minister, includes Jehangir Khan Tareen, Saqib Shirazi, Shehzad Saleem, Musadiq Zulkarnain, Dr Ejaz Nabi, Asif Peer, Ziad Bashir and Salman Ahmed as members.

The officials said the EAC members, some of them exporters, were of the opinion that their exports due to the overestimation of rupe became competitive, adding that Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb assured that he would take up the case with the state bank of Pakistan (SBP) – The regulator of the exchange rate regime.

Some of the EAC members also appeared to protect their own business interests during a meeting and raised certain questions about micro-level that should not have been brought up to the discussion, observed a participant of the meeting.

The EAC members emphasized that the currency reserves had also begun to fall and dipped by $ 1 billion to $ 11 billion at the end of last week.

Pakistan’s currency reserves remain low despite the IMF program, as there are no major increases in the fresh foreign inflow. The central bank has maintained the reserves by buying dollars from the market. The purchases amounted to $ 9 billion in the last calendar year.

However, there was a limited window available for purchase in January after the country registered the $ 420 million deficit. SBP buys dollars by preserving part of the export negotiations and the foreign transfers.

The central bank claims that the restrictions for imports have been removed and allowed duty -free imports of cotton to bridge the gap between demand and the domestic supply. There is also permission for duty -free imports of textile machines and spare parts; and raw materials that are not produced locally.

Overall, the ongoing account announced a $ 700 million profit in the first seven months of this financial year on the back of $ 19.2 billion exports. Some of the EAC members also recommended to import raw sugar for the purpose of re-developing it after refined the item.

A member who has efforts in the export business recommended that the government not impose on the imported raw materials. The exporters abuse the facility after the government introduced revenue tax for the export facility scheme.

The Prime Minister also highlighted the efforts to enable local industries to compete in the international markets with their exports, according to a press release. The Prime Minister pointed out that consultations continued with regard to the regulation of digital currencies.

The EAC members also believed that the investment would only increase after the overall investment environment was improved, and the local investors also began to invest in, according to the participants at the meeting.

An official distribution of the Prime Minister’s office stated that the EAC members reintroduced their full confidence in the government’s economic policy and presented key proposals aimed at strengthening Pakistan’s economic growth.

It added that Shehbaz instructed the relevant authorities to cooperate with the council members to form a comprehensive action plan based on these proposals. He emphasized that financial stability was not the result of an individual effort, but the entire team’s collective efforts.

The Prime Minister also emphasized the need to use the regional trade potential. He said that industry, agriculture, development of information technology, job creation and rising exports were among the government’s highest priorities.

The Prime Minister said there was an effort to improve telecommunications services and provide internet access to the remote areas, which would help increase the number of freelancers and information technology (IT) exports.