Punjab Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman said the government is encouraging barter trade to ease dollar pressure on the economy. He was talking to Chairman of Kyrgyzstan Trade House and Coordinator to Federal Tax Ombudsman Meher Kashif Younis at a reception hosted in his honour in Lahore, reports WealthPK.

The governor said Pakistan would export bitumen to Kenya, which would in return export tea to Pakistan under barter trade system. He said negotiations in that regard were in final phase by the private sectors of the two countries. He said such type of trade was one of the best in the prevailing financial crunch as it did not involve foreign exchange.

Balighur Rehman said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had directed federal ministries of finance, commerce, the Export Promotion Bureau, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, Federal Board of Revenue and all relevant departments to encourage the concept of barter trade by involving the private sector. He hoped the economic situation would improve in near future as all possible efforts were being made to cope with the setbacks in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the catastrophic floods.

The Punjab governor said the barter system was simple with no complexities involved in a monetary system, overexploitation of natural resources, concentration of power in some circles, or balance of payments and foreign exchange crises. He said a barter transaction was the exchange of goods or services in exchange for other goods or services.

He said bartering benefits companies and countries that see a mutual benefit in exchanging goods and services rather than cash, and it also enables those who are lacking hard currency to obtain goods and services. On the occasion, Meher Kashif Younis hailed the government’s decision and urged the private sector to explore countries interested in promoting barter trade, which is one of the world’s oldest systems of trade. “Such an initiative would help offset dollar threat on under-developed economies.”

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk