Investors shy away

The dual problem of political uncertainty and high cost of bank borrowing has driven up cost of business. Entrepreneurs have as a result become investment shy. This has impacted very negatively on the private sector growth.
Big businesses have been showing unwillingness to make use of even the loans already sanctioned by the banks. The upshot of it is that in the last nine months of the current fiscal, business has shrunk considerably  as the credit growth has about halved compared to what was over the same period in the previous fiscal.
All this points to the businesses' lack of confidence in the economy. This is hardly a good news for the overall health of  the economy. And when business is in doldrums, new workforce joining the job market runs the risk of remaining largely unemployed. The situation has the potential to affect social stability adversely.
The sooner something is done to reverse this unwelcome trend, the better. To this end, the central bank may facilitate credit growth through prudent regulatory measures. But how can the still trickier issue of political uncertainty be addressed?  The government and the opposition cannot shrug off their responsibility in this matter. They are to put an end to the existing suffocating state of confrontation, violence and impasse.
The onus is, therefore, on the politicians to create the environment for the entrepreneurs to feel safe about their investments.