KARACHI: The President, Lasbela Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Yakoob Karim has opposed the interest rate by 0.25 per cent in the Monetary Policy announced by the Governor State Bank of Pakistan for the next two months. In a statement he said that the SBP has once again reversed the downward trend in the interest rate despite the fact that the industrial sector is still in deep trouble. He said that SBP should focus on regulating government spending and unabated borrowing instead of increasing bank interest which gets industrial sector under pressure badly affecting industrial production. Yakoob said that export oriented -industry is fast losing export markets in USA and European Union due to increased cost of doing business. He said that SBP Governor should observe the industrial and business friendly policy instead of over-burdening the industry. He further stated that central bank should adopt long term policies instead of depending on short-term policy. Published in Daily Times, January 28th 2018.