High interest rates will not allow any relief to masses, industry.

Karachi -- President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) and former provincial minister, Mian Zahid Hussain has said that improved economic activities and any relief to masses is not possible unless fundamental changes are made in some policies including interest rates which has led to the economic slowdown.

Talking to the business community, he said that the World Bank has estimated a growth rate of 2.4 percent for Pakistan in 2020 while is lower than all the regional countries as the growth rate if Afghanistan will be 3 percent, Sri Lanka 3.3 percent, Maldives 5.5 percent, Nepal 6.4 percent, India 6.9 percent while the GDP growth rate of Bangladesh and Bhutan will remain about seven percent.

He said that that our growth rate will hover around 3 percent in 2021 while the rest of the regional economies will grow further which means that there will be no relief for the masses and the business community.

The former minister noted that the growth rate may slide below the projections of international institutions due to ongoing political turmoil which is set to increase. He noted that the issue of FATF has also emerged as a threat which is being taken lightly which can prove disastrous...