The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) held an interactive session with Acting Governor SBP Murtaza Syed accompanied by Deputy Governors Ms. Sima Kamil and Dr. Inayat Hussain. Ghias Khan, President OICCI, along with M Abdul Aleem, CE/ Secretary General welcomed the guests and started the session with a brief introduction of OICCI as the oldest business chamber of the country and largest in terms of economic contribution.

Murtaza Syed explained the current economic situation of Pakistan and the comprehensive strategy for dealing with the rising issues during FY-23. He stated that Pakistan is primarily consumer-driven economy with consumption driving up to 95% of the GDP. Expounding upon the strategy, he maintained that Pakistan’s problems are temporary, and all steps are being taken to forcefully address those issues. He opined that global inflationary pressures coupled with a procyclical expansionary fiscal policy were major reasons for Pakistan facing the situation today. He was confident that, with measures SBP is taking, once the IMF deal pulls through, it’ll help alleviate the pressures on the economy, specifically the foreign exchange and the rapidly depreciating currency.

OICCI members raised their concerns, which were related to the pre-approval procedure of LCs for import of machinery and spare parts (Chapters 84 and 85) from SBP, timely remittance payments, approval exemptions of shipping values up to $100,000 for pharma products being too low, and other operational issues. Members requested for a certain timeline which could be promised to producers in order to keep the supply chain running. The SBP chief asked them to take things one step at a time and that the situation will begin to settle down during the first quarter of FY-23 and was hopeful that it will be back to normal by the second quarter. Ms. Sima responded that urgent products such as pharmaceuticals need to be highlighted as such when forwarding approval requests which would then be taken up by the SBP. Dr. Inayat, further clarified that essential products such as pharmaceutical raw material and machinery spare parts to keep current plants running are being approved on an urgent basis, while only approval of new plant and machinery is being held at the moment. Usance LCs were suggested as a useful tool for consideration in current situation.

Mr. Murtaza concluded the session and showed his confidence that measures taken were bringing the economy under control and that while there have been some measures taken recently that bring operational gaps, these measures are temporary and will be eased over the coming quarter. Responding to the hiked interest rates, he maintained that while Pakistan’s consumption is not debt-driven, the basic rules of economics still hold. Ghias Khan thanked the SBP management for taking time out and having this interactive session with our members which will help ease the concerns of the business community and add some certainty to the business environment.