Pakistan top business community are not happy with the merge deduction of interest rate by central bank of Pakistan and has demanded more reduction for benefit of the industry. S.M Muneer was of view that one per cent cut in interest rates goes against expectations whereas Zubair Tufail welcomes reduction in interest rates but Gulzar Feroze has pointed out that SBP does not reduce mark-up rate based on facts.

United Business Group (UBG) has termed the SBP’s interest rate cut as less than expected. It said that the business community had expected the interest rate to be at least 6 to 7 per cent. However, they also welcome the one per cent reduction by the SBP. SM Mueer said that due to Corona, economic activities around the world are stagnant, the economy in Pakistan has also been hit hard by Corona virus, while according to the report of the World Bank, inflation is not only in Pakistan but in all countries of the region. The interest rates have been reduced to zero in most countries but in Pakistan the interest rate has been kept at 8%, which is still very high and has to be rationalized.

Pakistan needs to lower interest rates further so that the economy does not suffer from a crisis. They said that the government should strictly implement SOPs while easing the lockdown and opening up the markets, adding that it was the responsibility of the government to control the rush in the markets and maintain social distance between the people. Iftikhar Ali Malik said that the business community is facing severe difficulties which need to be facilitated as much as possible.