LCCI slams raise in key policy rate

LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has expressed concern over the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) decision to raise the key policy rate by 150 basis points to 8.75 percent, a statement said.

“Availability of equity to the business community has been made dearer with a single stroke of pen,” LCCI president Mian Nauman Kabir, senior vice president Mian Rehman Aziz Chan and vice president Haris Ateeq said in a statement.

They said the central bank has not adopted a right way to deal with inflation, adding that the increase in the discount rate would enhance the cost of doing business that would ultimately affect economic growth.

Such decisions have not served the purpose in the past and the same would happen this time, they said, adding that at the time when both the trade and industry were in dire need of some special package, the increase in the interest rate would prove counterproductive to economic recovery.

“The cost of doing business in Pakistan is already highest in the region,” the LCCI office-bearer said, adding that the business community has been demanding lowering of interest rate for the sake of new investments that were going down with every passing day.

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