ISLAMABAD, Jul 30 (APP):The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has urged the government for focusing on introducing low cost credit schemes for the domestic industry in order to improve its productivity, attract new investment and promote exports.
Ahmed Hassan Moughal President and Rafat Farid Senior Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that Pakistan has been depending on foreign loans to run its economy.
They urged the government for working on some policies to improve domestic productivity and attract new investment by providing low cost financing to businesses.
They said that at present the interest rates were so high that no businessman or investor was ready to undertake new business ventures and the best way to cope with this problem was to come up with low cost financing schemes for business and industry.
Ahmed Hassan Moughal said that many business groups were working on projects to expand their existing production capacities, set up new industrial units and upgrade technology, but they have put such projects on hold due to increase in the cost of capital investment.
He said that to reverse this trend, government in collaboration with SBP should work out some new schemes to offer long-term finance at 5-6 percent interest rate for the purchase of industrial machinery and equipment.
He emphasized the need for facilitating certain priority sectors including engineering, food processing, information technology and others where Pakistan had strong potential to increase exports.
He said that low interest rates were the key requirement to trigger fresh investment in industrial projects and boost exports.
ICCI President said that government should also focus on creating new industrial zones in Islamabad and in other major cities to facilitate the development of new industrial estates.
He said many potential investors has the capital to set up industrial units, but they were unable to find land at suitable price.
He called for establishing new industrial zones in every city with a population of one million people that would help create jobs for the local population and slow down pressure on larger cities and towns.