Daily Times

Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Tuesday urged the State Bank of Pakistan to bring down markup rates to inject energy to the industrial sector. LCCI President Mian Nauman Kabir, Senior Vice President Mian Rehman Aziz Chan and Vice President Haris Ateeq told the media that the recent hike in policy rate would affect the trade and industry. The business community would not be able to get cheap money that would also halt the industrial expansion, they added. “We were expecting cut in markup rates in the context of high cost of doing business but the policy rate was again raised by 150 basis points,” they said. “Pakistan’s industry cannot compete those countries in the international market where policy rate is low or zero,” the LCCI office-bearers observed. They said that policy rate should be brought down to the single digit to give a jumpstart to the economic activities and to ensure cheap financing for industrial sector. They said that high markup rate was no more sustainable as it was hitting the economy and would continue to do so unless and until a more realistic approach was adopted.