Unemployment will rise
Economist Hafeez Pasha says the recent rise in interest rates has led to an increase in business costs, which has led to a drop in investment.
Speaking on SAMAA’s ‘New Day’ program Economist Hafeez Pasha opined that the impact in Pakistan would be huge and we would have less investment, which would not create new jobs and the unemployment rate would remain the same for a long time after the Karuna epidemic. Until
He added that the decision could lead to a reduction in imports, which in turn would reduce the trade deficit.
It may be recalled that yesterday the SBP had hiked interest rates by one percentage point or 100 basis points to curb rising inflation. The rate of inflation was 9.2 per cent in October which rose to 11.5 per cent in November.
The SBP has raised interest rates by about 1.53% in the last three monetary policies. Interest rates rose 0.25% in September. This was followed by 1.5 per cent in November and 1 per cent on Tuesday.
