KARACHI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) on Friday urged PM Shehbaz Sharif to decrease the policy rate, fearing any more hike would lead to stagflation and adverse effects on industrial growth in the country, ARY News reported, citing sources.
In a letter penned to PM Shehbaz Sharif, the FPCCI has stated that increase in policy rate has sharply increased the cost of production. “The former PTI government increased 250bps in the interest rate without reviewing the ground realities,” the letter read.
Meanwhile, the sources within the government said that the business community has been assured of some relief in the upcoming monetary policy.
Read more: FPCCI appoints Usama Qureshi as Senior Vice Chairman of Pak-UK Business Council
The government will support every move for the business activities in the country, the sources said.
Pakistan’s current interest rate is 12.25 per cent, which is the highest in the region.
Earlier, FPCCI president added that the policy rate Pakistan was comparatively quite higher than regional countries such as Malaysia at 2 per cent, China at 3.7 per cent, India at 4 per cent, and Bangladesh at 5 per cent.
