ISLAMABAD: A day after financial market was rocked by a sudden depreciation in the value of Pakistani rupee against US dollar, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday hinted that State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) acting governor was behind the sudden steep fall in value of rupee, who, according to him, while acting alone had directed the banks to let the local currency depreciate against greenback. Following a meeting with presidents of around two dozen domestic banks and financial institutions, who had been summoned to Islamabad for an emergency meeting, the finance minister announced that a new governor of the SBP may be appointed as soon as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returns from his two-day visit to Tajikistan. “The Rs 3.50 devaluation in a single day was a unique accident of our history and an attempt to give an artificial setback to country’s economy,” Dar said, while announcing to launch a probe to find out the reasons behind such an irrational move by the SBP acting chief. “Nobody can be jack of all trades,” the minister said, while disapproving the unilateral move of the acting governor. The minister said that the federal government did not change its foreign exchange policy. He made it clear that the pre-slide value of Rs 104.90 per US dollar was the ‘real value’ of the Pakistani currency. Dar said that the ‘turmoil in the currency market was the result of the information communication gap’. But the market has adjusted it as the rupee value was again back to Rs 105.50 in the interbank trading on Thursday, he added. At the close of the day on Thursday, the rupee value in the interbank stood at Rs 106.50 to a dollar, amid reports that the government may eventually allow up to 1.5 per cent depreciation. While rectifying his earlier statement that he gave on Wednesday when he claimed that current political instability could be behind rupee deprecation, Dar said it was actually the result of an individual act. “On Wednesday morning, an individual called the banks and asked them to depreciate the rupee against the US dollar, which was tantamount to damaging the economy,” said Dar, adding that even the SBP deputy governor was not aware of the decision by Riaz Riazuddin. Dar also announced that a competent person with integrity will be appointed to head the inquiry to be launched to find out the reasons to devalue the rupee. He said that all the interbank transactions would be investigated to find out who got benefited from the rupee devaluation. Dar also rejected the notion that external account position required rupee depreciation. The minister said that current account financing was the responsibility of the finance ministry that it was fulfilling. Dar said that although the constitution allows three months before a new governor of the State Bank has to be appointed, the process of doing so will be expedited. “A new, permanent governor will be appointed in a day or two after PM Sharif returns,” he said. Dar thanked the bankers who, he said, accepted the federal government’s position on the value of the currency. He claimed that during the meeting the bankers expressed repentance over Wednesday’s incident. It was for the first time that the federal government publicly accused a sitting governor of ‘playing games’ with economy. It is yet to be seen whether Riaz Riazuddin would prefer to continue as deputy governor after appointment of a new governor in light of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s mistrust on him. The SBP Chief Spokesman Abid Qamar did not respond to a question whether Riaz Riazuddin would continue after the distrust showed by the finance minister. The SBP on Wednesday had issued a press statement and supported the fall in the value of the rupee. Published in Daily Times, July 7th , 2017.