THE rupee last week suffered a record plunge in one day — Rs10 — against the US dollar. Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry informed the nation that the currency crash happened because people were gambling against the Pakistani rupee.

Well, gambling is a crime in our country, so why the government is not catching the people who are gambling against Pakistan rupee? The next day the information minister told the media that rupee devaluation was caused by illegal capital flight from Pakistan. Well, his party is in power now. How much money stashed illegally abroad has the PTI government brought back so far?

I believe the rupee crash reflects Pakistan’s weak economic fundamentals, which are worsening with each passing day. This government needs to learn that markets are impervious to perceptions and emotional promises and appeals and work on economic realities.

Pakistan’s economy needs structural adjustments which are painful. The government will have to make difficult structural changes in the economy to honour the promises it made to the nation during the election campaign.

Ejaz Ahmad Magoon

Lahore

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2018