Economic and financial analyst Ateeq Ur Rehman has said that if we have to seriously pull out the country from crises, two radical decisions have to be made, reduction in interest rate up to 4% and cut in electricity and gas tariffs. SBP maintained the interest rate at 7% for next two months, Ateeq said adding for business communities, it is not favorable as with this higher interest rate the capacity to expand business is limited and access to finance is still difficult for exporters, importers, industrialists, manufacturers, traders, SMEs and startups. In Mar’21, the federal govt. approved SBP Amendment bill 2021 under which SBP would have absolute autonomy to check inflation and control prices and draft monetary and fiscal policies, he said. How can inflation be alone responsibility of SBP, he asked adding that the federal, provincial and local govt’s. role is equally important in this regard.
22/3/2021