Daily Times

The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) in collaboration with the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday organized an awareness seminar on “Financial Literacy, Savings & Investment”.

The event was attended by a large number of the business community members, said a press release. Addressing the seminar, ICCI President Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari called for reviewing policy interest rate as it would evenually promote the SME (Small & Medium Enterprises) sector.

Due to high policy interest rate, the SMEs were unable to get loans from banks for business development, he added.

Bakhtawari said that everyone including the business community needed to play a role to get the country out of the current economic crisis. He encouraged the business community to invest in the stock market to generate funds for business expansion. He further demanded that the PSX should come up with attractive packages for the SME sector to raise capital from the stock market.

Sarman Hussain, Regional Head (Central & North), Pakistan Stock Exchange said that the stock market provided a better option for businesses to raise funds for development.

The SMEs would not only be able raise capital by selling their shares in the stock market, but it would also promote good governance for them, he added. He said that family businesses in Pakistan were declining rather than flourishing as “only 12% of family businesses go to the third generation”.

He said that family businesses should focus on diversification instead of depending on one business line. Zahid Latif Khan, CEO of Zahid Latif Khan Securities Private Limited, said that investing in the stock market was very profitable.

He said that from July to December 2023, there had been a good increase in foreign portfolio investment in the stock market, which was a manifestation of the confidence of foreign investors in Pakistan’s economy.

He said that Pakistan was a country of about 240 million people, but there were about 75 million bank holders in it, while the number of investors in the stock market was only 310, 000, which was not encouraging. He said that businesses should invest in the stock market, which would improve their standing and facilitate them in raising capital.

He said that the caretaker government’s measures regarding the Afghan Transit Trade and preventing smuggling had a positive impact on the stock market.