Staff Reporter
Faisalabad
Close liaison, better understanding and practical working relationship between banks and exporters are imperative to overcome the threats posed to the global as well as national economy in the wake of the corona crisis, said Reza Baqir, Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Addressing a zoom conference with President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI), he termed corona pandemic as a blessing in disguise as instead of waiting for regular meetings now we could easily arrange zoom conferences to interact, discuss and resolve our issues of important nature.
Baqir said that realizing the criticality of corona lockdown, the SBP immediately announced a refinance scheme to avoid unemployment. “Similarly the policy rate has also been trimmed gradually to seven percent so that the liquidity problems of SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) sector could be resolved on top priority basis”, he told and added that these steps also paved the way for revival of the economy.
He further said that apprehensions of the business community, regarding these schemes and steps, were also dispelled by introducing necessary amendments. However, steps are also being taken to improve the disbursement of loans by selected commercial banks.
Responding to a question, Governor SBP said that refunds of DLTL would be immediately shifted to the accounts of the exporters on the receipt of foreign proceeds. “This process should be completed positively within a period of one week”, he added.
Mr Baqir also assured to solve the problems of the local business community as early as possible.
Earlier, Rana Sikandar Azam Khan, President FCCI thanked SPB Governor for extending the refinance scheme for another three months and cutting down the policy rate to 7%. He said that zoom conferences have provided them an opportunity to immediately discuss their issues with concerned government departments but he suggested a regular meeting with Governor SBP to cultivate good and cordial relations between the two departments.
He mentioned problems being confronted by the business community due to corona lockdown and elimination of zero-rating scheme for five major export sectors and told that exporters are facing liquidity problems as their capital is unnecessarily piling up with the government kitty.
“In this situation, they have to borrow capital at high markup from the open market to manage their day-to-day affairs”, he said and added that it was adding to their cost of production. He stressed the need for a foolproof automation system for tax refund. He said that FBR has introduced a “Fully Automated Sales Tax Electronic Refund (FASTER) scheme.