ICCI hails govt’s relief package

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has welcomed the federal government’s relief package announced to cope with the turmoil caused by the outbreak of coronavirus and hoped that it would contribute in mitigating the impact of the current crisis on the country’s poor people and the economy.

Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that business community was fully supportive of the government’s relief package, however, he said that the relief package announced by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has targeted retail SMEs while industrial units and corporate sector have not been given due attention.

He said that due to coronavirus issue, manufacturing activities have come to a halt, but industrialists have to pay markup on loans besides paying wages to idle labour, which was becoming difficult.

ICCI president appealed to SBP Governor Raza Baqir to consider announcing a relief package for industrial units and corporate sector to save them from default. He said that developed countries have announced bailout packages for their SMEs and corporate sectors by freezing their installments of loans and markup.

He said that SBP should also freeze installments of loans and markup for SMEs and corporate sector at least for 6 months to keep them afloat in these difficult circumstances. He hoped that SBP would give sympathetic consideration to this proposal in order to save the economy from falling into further troubles.