The Lahore Chamber welcomes the decisions of the Economic Co-ordination Committee for Small Businesses and Workers

Lahore Chamber President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, Senior Vice President Ali Hassam Asghar and Vice President Mian Zahid Javed Ahmed welcomed the Rs 125 billion package for small traders and workers by the Economic Co-ordination Committee. In a statement, LCC officials said that a package of Rs 50 billion for small and medium enterprises and Rs 75 billion for workers would help them deal with the situation caused by the chronovirus.

He said that the concerned authorities would have to devote all their energies to achieve the desired results. He said that under the package, the federal government would pay three-month electricity bills to the small business sector, which would benefit 3.5 million shopkeepers.

He said that these were the demands of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He said that the government would have to take some additional steps to control the current situation, the government should delay the collection of mark-up from small businesses for at least six months. A scheme for interest free loans should be introduced and the credit limit for registered SMEs should be increased ten times from the amount of their electricity bill.

LCC officials hoped that keeping in view the current situation, the government would provide relief to the industry, trade and the people in addition to utility bills and prices of petroleum products.