LAHORE
Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) President Mian Nauman Kabir stressed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday to take notice of arbitrariness of the banks that were not opening the Letters of Credit (LCs) and charging Rs 10-20 extra than the inter-bank rate.
While talking to a delegation here, he said the SBP should intervene immediately otherwise the situation would be further aggravated. He said various members had approached the LCCI stating that they were facing difficulties in opening LCs because of unfriendly attitude of banks.
He said that the business community was the backbone of the economy as the government generates more than 90 per cent of its total resources from this sector.
Therefore, it can make a great contribution to turning Pakistan into one of the greatest nations in the world if facilitation and an enabling atmosphere was provided.
The LCCI president said that the economy was already facing severe challenges and lack of cooperation from the banking sector was also creating problems. He said recently he had fruitful meetings with the federal commerce minister, minister for Industries and Production, chairman Federal Board of Revenue and foreign secretary.
He said that as a result of his meetings, the government accepted the LCCI demand and released the consignments stuck at ports and airports and granted one-time special permission to release the consignments to salvage the importers.
