Appreciation: Businessmen hail low interest rate

Banks are making huge profits for the last few years and a little cut would not make much difference to their earnings

MULTAN: The business community of southern Punjab has hailed the State Bank of Pakistan’s decision of maintaining the key interest rate at 5.75%, saying that it will provide some breathing space to the industry. Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) President Fareed Mughis Sheikh and former president Mian Iqbal Hassan said in a statement that the SBP had taken a wise decision to maintain the policy rate. They said that the economy is in a state of uncertainty and needs more breathing space to survive. They said that banks in Pakistan are making huge profits for the last few years and a little cut would not make much difference to their earnings. “We have lost our share in the export market as a number of countries have become more competitive and now we have to recapture them,” Fareed said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2016.

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