The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to immediately announce cut in interest rate, which is a prerequisite to enhance productivity.
The LCCI president Mian Muzaffar Ali, soon after the announcement of Monetary Policy, said in a statement that the SBP decision to keep the interest rates intact has dashed the hopes of the business community which was expecting a remarkable cut in the existing rate of mark up which has no parallel in the developed world. He said that it is a sorry state of affairs that at a time when the whole industry was badly suffering due to high cost of doing business and complaining of being uncompetitive in the global market, the SBP has taken a totally otherwise step.
He said that the monetary policy announced by the State Bank Governor will not bring any good to the economy but would further deteriorate the situation. He was of the view that imbalances in the economy such as increasing trade deficit, current account deficit, high saving and investment gap, huge government borrowing and persistent high inflation including food inflation would leave a very negative impact on the national economy. He said that if the government was serious to promote local businesses, it would have to review the monetary policy keeping in view the ground realities.