PESHAWAR: Traders have opposed federal government’s retaining policy rate at 22 per cent as detrimental for business, economic growth and demanded bringing it down to 12 per cent.

In a statement here on Saturday, Ilyas Bilour, central leader of Businessman Forum, recalled that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led government in its previous tenure had brought down the interest rate by a single digit.

Mr Ilyas Bilour, who is a former senator and senior leader of Awami National Party, said that in the prevailing situation business community would be unable to get loans from commercial banks at that interest rate.

“It is quite difficult for business community to repay loans to banks with an interest rate of 25 per cent,” he commented and added that the community was already in high trouble in the prevailing circumstances and getting loans from commercial banks at a markup rate of 25 per cent was not only difficult rather impossible for them.

He said that government was borrowing from commercial banks through T-bill. He said that it would accelerate trade and industrialisation if government asked the governor of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to bring down the interest rate to 12 per cent from current 22 per cent. He said that prices would go down by making a drastic cut in interest rate that would provide relief to poor.

Mr Bilour said that SBP was an independent institute of the country but the government must take action over retaining policy rate at the highest level. He urged government and governor of State Bank of Pakistan to bring down the current policy rate from 22 to 12 per cent to facilitate the business community.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2024