State Bank urged to adopt long-term policies

LAHORE: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) here Tuesday urged the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to adopt long-term policies, besides regulating public sector spending and unabated borrowing instead of increasing bank interest which would pressurize industrial sector.

FPCCI Vice President and Regional Chairman Chaudhry Arfan Yousaf expressed concern over Monetary Policy announced by the SBP for the next two months, raising its main policy interest rate by 25 basis points to 6 percent after the recent depreciation of the rupee.

He was of the view that the bank had reversed the downward trend in the interest rate despite the fact that industrial sector was still in trouble, while country’s exports had also been declining for last three to four years and fallen from US $ 25 billion to US $ 20 billion against US $ 52 billion imports that led trade deficit to US$ 32 billion during 2016-17.

He suggested the authorities concerned for taking drastic steps to fight against increasing the trade deficit.

The export-oriented industry, he mentioned, was fast losing export markets in the USA and European Union due to the increased cost of doing business.