Chairman Businessmen Panel and Pakistan Business Group Alliance of FPCCI Mian Zahid Hussain, Presidential candidate Abdul Rahim Janoo and candidate for SVP Mian Anjum Nisar for FPCCI elections 2017 have welcomed increased demand for private sector credit, terming it good sign for national economy. Demand for construction material is also on the rise due to economic corridor and the activities outside CPEC, they said.
They said that property evaluation system has jolted the construction sector but it can be a temporary phase. They said that construction sector took loans worth Rs 1 billion in 2014 which jumped to 13.7 billion in 2015 and went up to 31.5 billion in 2016. However, the latest reports suggest that the sector is facing a littler contraction, they informed.
The business leaders said that private sector satisfied its 88 percent capital requirements through banks in 2015, while it took additional loans of Rs 224 billion as compared to last year. The power and gas utilities also borrowed Rs 53 billion to upgrade their infrastructure and retire some loans while the retailers borrowed Rs 13 billion during 2015. They have borrowed Rs 4.5 billion in the current fiscal. They asked the banks to improve their working and brace for the additional financing requirements of the CPEC projects so that the same can be completed well in time.