Rs 100 billion package for SMEs demanded

Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) President Mian Zahid Hussain has urged the government to bring down the interest rate to zero as long as the coronavirus crisis lasts while the SME sector and traders should also be given loans on zero interest for the next six months.
He said that the government should announce a Rs 100 billion package for the SMEs and traders enabling them to pay salaries to their staff while utility bills should be waived off for the next three months.
He further added that daily-wage workers should be provided aid for the next three months through the Ehsaas programme while demurrage, container and late-clearance charges for the importers and exporters should be waived.
The workers in the corporate sector should be compensated through EOBI, WWB and Employees Social Security Institution and turnover tax and corporate tax should be reduced.
The corporate sector should be given a 25 percent discount in the energy bills, he said, adding that all the proposals could be implemented as the government had saved billions of dollars in its oil import bill and other heads while some other countries and international institutions had also promised aid, he said.
Lauding Prime Minister Imran Khan for announcing a package for the economy which was in trouble due to global recession, double-digit interest rates and the coronavirus, he said that the package should be reflective of ground realities and aspirations of the masses as well as the business community which had pinned high hopes on the prime minister.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the pandemic had spread across 192 countries, prompting different countries to cut interest rates and announce economic stimulus.