LAHORE – The business community has sought immediate government intervention for resolving the issues faced by small and medium enterprises and the cottage industry.
Chairing a meeting, Khadim Hussain, member board of director of the Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC), Punjab has said that continuing business in prevailing circumstances has become really an uphill task for the cash-strapped enterprises.
“Instead of taking measures to enable enterprises to continue businesses amid a global economic meltdown, the government is multiplying the miseries by taking uncalled for decisions like hike in the interest rate. The businesses are already under enormous stress due to high input costs, restrictions on the import of raw materials, and high inflation.
Taking interest rates to a historic high level of 21 percent will make it really tough for cash-strapped enterprises to manage even day-to-day affairs. A large number of industries have already closed down due to the high cost of doing business in the wake of an increase in energy cost, salaries of the workforce, and less demand of products owing to reduced buying capacity of inflation hit consumers”, he said, adding that the government should come forward and devise a doable strategy for saving the economy and the businesses after due consultation with the relevant stakeholders.
Mr. Hussain, who is also a chief executive officer of Hussain Trading Company, has stressed the need of a downward revision of interest rates and bringing it to par with regional countries like India, China, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh to bring borrowing cost in the reach of small enterprises. He said that measures like an increase in markup have failed to control inflation in the past and the same would happen this time around.
“Inflation is on the rise for the last one year despite a gradual increase in the interest rate. There is a need of looking for other measures to check inflation. The interest rate should be decreased for enabling businesses to play their due role in reviving the economy and putting it on the path of sustainable growth”, he said.
