The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) on Wednesday said that there was need of hefty cut in the discount rates by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) as reduction of 50 basis points would not provide any benefit to the business community.
"SBP has only reduced its policy rate by 50 basis points whereas business community was expecting hefty cut in discount rate in new monetary policy in line with international trend," ICCI President, Mehfooz Elahi said during a meeting with business leaders at the Chamber house. The reduction of 0.5 percent in interest rate would not provide any benefit to businessmen, he added.
To control the damaging effects of current recession on the employment and investment, government should have announced an expansionary policy to boost growth of business and industrial activities and overcome the problems of unemployment and poverty. ICCI President said that power shortages have emerged as one of the most critical factors hampering economic activity in the country. SPB should take measures to stop this trend and come up with concrete policies to support SMEs and industries, he emphasised.