Expensive capital: LCCI demands lower interest rate

Demanded the SBP to bring down the interest rate by at least 150 to 200 basis points


Ppi January 06, 2015

KARACHI: The Lasbela Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has demanded the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to bring down the interest rate by at least 150 to 200 basis points in the forthcoming monetary policy to give a jumpstart to economic activities and revive the industrial sector. In a statement issued on Tuesday, LCCI President Yakoob H Karim said that the interest rate is an important input for the industrial sector and always influences the cost of production. “How can we even imagine competing with the likes of Japan, Sweden and Switzerland in the international market where industry is being financed at 0% interest rates,” he said. Yakoob said that the benchmark interest rate in Pakistan was last recorded at 10%. He said that interest rate in Pakistan has averaged 12.55% from 1992 to 2014, reaching an all-time high of 20% in October 1996 and a record low of 7.50% in November of 2002.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7th,  2015.

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