Islamabad: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) has requested the federal government to reduce the interest rate to a single digit in order to facilitate the revival of business activity within the country, a news source reported.
The ICCI officials said that high interest rates impeded the growth of business activities. This, in turn, kept the economy in a stagnant mode, they added. The senior ICCI leadership stated that high interest rates had increased the cost of doing business – slowing down business and investment activities in the country.
The officials noted that the policy rate of 13.25% was making borrowing from banks costly, which made it inconvenient for investors to secure credit facilities from banks for expanding existing businesses, and investing in new start-ups.
To facilitate the government’s ease-of-doing business initiative, the ICCI has requested the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to cut down the key interest rate to the single digit.
