Breakfast with Jang was organised by the Jang Media Group with the support of JS Bank, and was attended by finance experts, bankers, journalists, lawyers, academicians and a number of other people from various fields of life so that the topic could be discussed in an informal session.
The State Bank of Pakistan chief highlighted that he had cut the policy rate by 425 basis points since June 2013 and almost a similar cut had been observed in the cost of retail. Finally, the domestic demand is strong and retail business is thriving. Currently, the potential investable resources with corporate sector are Rs3.7 trillion, which is more than double the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) allocation for the year 2017.
Besides, capital banks, investment companies have also proved to be an important source of funding for the corporate sectors. Pakistan Stock Exchange has constantly being noticed as the top-most market in Asia over the last five years.
The importance of SMEs was also discussed claiming it to be the backbone of economy. In Pakistan, SMEs have gone through a rough patch in the past, especially from 2003 onwards to 2013.
Talking about investments, the penetration in universities remain a point of discussion too as there are research students with products ready in hand but there are no investors to show faith in them.
Though it is not under the State Bank’s domain yet the governor requested the investors and the government to touch upon this issue as our youngsters are our future and there is immense talent in Pakistan. Moreover, the State Bank has merit based study loans for deserving and outstanding students of the country.
Wathra emphasised that the State Bank has formulated a policy to create an enabling environment and friendly regulations for private business, helping them introduce technology and upgrade themselves to compete with the international market as private sector is the driving force of economic development of Pakistan.
“After all, the 1.7 million youth of our country can’t rely on just the government for jobs and it is the private sector that is playing its part in providing employment opportunities too.”
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Source: The News**