KARACHI: Lasbela Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Yakoob H Karim has appreciated the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) move of cutting in the export refinance rate to 6 per cent from 7.5pc on the demand of LCCI and hoped that this move would accelerate exports to some level.
Yakoob said that it was a step in the right direction and the entire export sector has hailed this decision.
LCCI Chief said that the decrease in cost of bank borrowing would reflect positively on country’s exports in term of competitiveness and now the business community would settle their bank liabilities and get the relief.
The decision has come at a time when exports to Europe were facing difficulty owing to declining exchange rate of the euro against Pakistani rupee.
However, reduction of up to 1.5pc in mark-up rate would help exporters of leather goods to properly negotiate with European buyers for the upcoming summer and autumn seasons, particularly when they were already demanding reduction in prices.
He also said that he had demanded the SBP to reduce refinance rate to at least 5.5 per cent and a further reduction would be needed to draw real benefit of the scheme for enhancing exports. He said there should be further cut in export refinance rate which is presently 29 percent less than the discount rate.
