State Bank governor Dr Shamshad Akhtar has announced a cut in export refinance rates to boost Pakistani exports. She said that the lowering of this rate would help reduce the cost of production.

Addressing a press conference, Dr Akhtar said that the rate under the Export Finance Scheme had been reduced to 6.5% from 7.5% and the banking spread to 1% from 1.5%.

Dr Shamshad also announced a reduction in credit rates for long-term financing schemes involving imported and locally manufactured machinery for sectors such as the leather sector. Under this scheme, which would be a new scheme after the merger of Locally Manufactured Machinery and Long-Term Financing for the Export-Oriented Projects, the banking spread had been reduced from 3% to 2%.