Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) has demanded of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to provide soft loans to exporters to help them enhance the exports, besides make their products compatible in international market. The interest rate on these loans should be in between three to five percent which may be fixed according to the credibility and track record of the concerned company, said Syed Asad Mashhadi, President RCCI here on Tuesday.
He was addressing the joint sitting of standing committees on exports, imports, customs and cargo held in RCCI House. Mashhadi said that government must reduce the margin of imports to prevent smuggling and expand legal trade. By virtue of the growth of legitimate business government could also collect more revenue.
He said that the purpose of convening joint session of four different standing committees was to collect proposals on upcoming trade policy from the business community for timely submission to the government. "The period of trade policy may be enhanced to five years as continuity in policies would certainly have positive impact on trade", he added.
The participants of the meeting demanded of the government to establish a new organisation to execute the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) signed with different countries. The implementation on these accords is very little, they said. They also demanded the clear and easily understandable policies without any ambiguity to be adopted regarding the FTAs.
The meeting also demanded that the maturity of indemnity bonds submitted by importers and exporters should be fixed at three years instead of one year. They also urged the government to include more countries in FTA especially Russia, Ukraine and North American countries, where there is a big potential of future trade.
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