Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has stressed the need for introducing business-friendly policy instead of over-burdening the business community. Giving his reaction on the recently announced monitory policy under which interest rate was increased by 25 basis point to 6 percent following rupee deprecation, FPCCI Vice President Ch Arfan Yousaf on Tuesday urged the State Bank to adopt long-term policies instead of depending on the short-term policy. He also asked the State Bank to focus on regulating government spending and unabated borrowing instead of increasing bank interest which will affect the industrial sector.
He said the central bank increased the interest rate despite the fact that the industrial sector is still in deep trouble. Pakistan's exports have been declining for the last three-four years and fell from US $25 billion to $20 billion first time in the history. Our imports stand at $52 billion leading to trade deficit to $32 billion during 2016-17, he said and added that drastic steps should be taken to fight against the rising trade deficit.
The export oriented industry is fast losing markets in the USA and European Union due to the increased cost of doing business. He said foreign debt of Pakistan is around $60.9 billion in 2013 that has gone up to $85 billion by September 2017 showing an increase of over 41 percent during the last four years. The constant rise in foreign debt is major cause of poverty in the country, he added.