Karachi:Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) President Mian Anjum Nisar has requested State Bank of Pakistan to reduce policy rate to 5% as the country observes extensive lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic.
SBP has reduced interest rate by another 2% this week and it now stands at 9%. The policy rate stood at 13.25% but the economic instability due to the global pandemic has forced the central bank to revise the rate.
“The interest rates throughout the world hangs around 1% and in our region, it is around 4% to 5%. I would urge the SBP to reduce it further to 5% so that the industry can cope up with the lockdown situation,” he said. Interest rates in India and Bangladesh stand at 5.15% and 5.75% respectively.
Anjum further said that it is difficult run industries and trade under present circumstances. “If the industry and businesses take too much liabilities when there is no business activity then I see it would be difficult for them to pay those liabilities and survive in post corona situation,” he added.
He urged governor to consider these dilemmas the industry has been facing and further slash the policy rate to give the industry a cushion to survive. “These are very challenging times and I think SBP should further reduce the rate and bring it down to 5% so that industry would continue to run,” he said.