Former President of Federation Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Zubair Tufail has said it is time to reduce policy rate to 6% to boost up economic activities and protect jobs. He urged the State Bank of Pakistan to reduce interest rate suitablyas inflation is going down in recent weeks and LSMalso down by 23%. The industrialist appreciated the SBP’s measures taken in the recent crisis for support of industry and exports and said although, the SBP committee has reduced the policy rate by some 4.25 percent to 9 percent during the last one month to support the economy, however, it seems that Covid-19 impact on the domestic industry is more than expectations and in this situation, there was need of some more cut in the key policy rate to facilitate the domestic industry, which is under sever crisis and need more financial relief, he added. Former President of Federation Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Zubair Tufail said with recent reduction in the petroleum prices, inflation is expected to further reduce in coming months; therefore, there is space of another cut of 2 to 3 percent in the interest rate. “In order to address the economic slowdown, the interest rate should be fixed at least at 6 percent”, he demanded. The monetary policy committee of SBP should review the policy rate and take a decision in larger interest of economy, the business leader stressed.
