KARACHI (October 27, 2025): President of the North Karachi Association of Trade and Industry (NKATI), Faisal Moiz Khan, has expressed deep disappointment over the State Bank of Pakistan’s decision to maintain the policy rate at 11 percent, describing it as a major setback for the country’s business and industrial sectors.
In a statement, he said that the business community had repeatedly urged the central bank to bring down the interest rate to single digits in order to stimulate investment and industrial growth. “The business community had expected that the State Bank would reduce the policy rate by at least two to three percent, but the decision to keep it unchanged is disappointing,” he said.
Faisal Moiz Khan warned that maintaining such a high interest rate could undermine the efforts of Prime Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif and Field Marshal General Syed Asim Munir to stabilize and strengthen the national economy.
He noted that if the policy rate had been reduced to single digits, industrialists could have obtained bank financing to purchase new machinery, leading to higher industrial production and job creation. Instead, he said, the high cost of borrowing has stalled new investments and slowed industrial growth.
“The private sector, already struggling with unbearably high gas and electricity tariffs, cannot afford the additional burden of expensive loans,” he added. “As a result, the process of economic growth has virtually come to a standstill.”
