ICCI calls for cut in policy rate

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has called upon the government to curb the key interest rate to single digit level for reviving business activities since high interest rates have led to a rise in the production cost and also raised the cost of doing business causing drastic slowdowns in business activities and halting the influx of new investment. On the occasion ICCI President Ahmed Hassan Moughal, Senior Vice President Rafat Farid and Vice President Iftikhar Anwar Sethi said that businessmen needed to borrow from banks to expand their businesses and invest in new start-ups. “However, the policy rate of 13.25% has made bank borrowing very costly due to which the businessmen are facing problems in promoting business activities,” they said. “Whenever the interest rate went up, banks preferred to invest in government securities instead of providing credit to private sector and the same was happening right now in Pakistan.”  

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2019.

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