RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) has stressed upon the Government to align the interest rate with the regional economies and reduce input costs to create a more competitive and conducive environment for domestic industries to grow and further flourish.
Saqib Rafiq, President RCCI in a statement said that the rising interest rates, soaring inflation, and massive currency devaluation has eroded the purchasing power resulting in making the industries less competitive.
It is very unfortunate that we have the highest interest rate in the region at 22%, compared to Malaysia’s at 3%, China’s at 3.45 percent, India’s at 6.5% and Bangladesh’s at 6%.The manufacturing output of large industries shrank 15%year-on-year in June 2023 owing to the high cost of doing business.
In addition, the 12-month period of FY2023 also shows an overall decline of10.26%, he added. RCCI President further commented that the high interest rates has discouraged the industries including Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) from making investments in new equipment, technology, or expansion projects.
High interest has always has negative consequences for trade, commerce, industrial output, industrial expansion, and socio economic development, he added.
“It would be hard to compete with countries in the region such as India, Bangladesh and China in the presence of high interest rates,” he added.
He urged the government to take the stakeholders on board and chalk out strategies to devise long-term policies for lowering interest rate, cost of doing business and inflation.
