The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has hailed the State Bank of Pakistan's (SBP) decision to cut interest rate by one percent, saying it will help stimulate the private sector growth. Chamber President Ijaz Mumtaz said, "The governor of the SBP deserves appreciation for bringing down the interest rate to seven percent."
But he called for measures to make interest rate cut meaningful and result oriented as if the other economic factor were not taken, they would continue to create problems for the economy, in general, and for the private sector, in particular. "Perhaps the LCCI is the only chamber of commerce in the country that has termed a considerable cut in policy rate a panacea to low investment phenomenon. The cut will help ensure availability of cheaper money to cash starved private sector besides encouraging the potential foreign investors for investment in Pakistan," he added.
He hoped that in the upcoming monetary policy the interest rates would further be lowered and that the provision of ample cheaper liquidity was a must to create new businesses but in the past five years the higher interests kept the private sector growth at the lowest ebb causing huge damage to the businesses and unemployment graph also witnessed an unusual surge.