KARACHI: SITE Association of Industry (SAI) on Wednesday lashed out at the government for ongoing forex crisis in the country, saying it had hal
KARACHI: SITE Association of Industry (SAI) on Wednesday lashed out at the government for ongoing forex crisis in the country, saying it had halted business activities across all business segments for the industries.
SAI president Riaz Uddin called an emergency meeting of the association to discuss the issues facing, notably those industries that who had fallen prey to “haphazard actions” of the government and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
“The uncertainty created after the issuance of SBP’s EPD Circular Letter No.20 of 2022 on 27/12/2022, while the issuance of another Circular No.03 on 13/1/2023 has further exacerbated the already volatile situation of forex availability,” he said.
Riaz Uddin added that independence of the central bank needed to be put into action, as provided in the SBP Act (amended 2022).
“The central bank should come out and lead from the front, tackling the difficult situation, by taking firm and prudent actions and by issuing clear-cut instructions to the authorised dealers for provision of the much needed forex.”
He asked the government to take firm actions against those causing free float of the rupee, adding that the SBP should allow local industries a moratorium on repayment of their debt, including interest payments and principal, until such time the import restrictions on non-essential industries were lifted.
The SAI chief also called for special loans for industries at zero percent interest rate and a payback period of 5 years to facilitate the businesses meet their exigencies.
news.google.com