Provinces urged to lead SME financing efforts

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), on advice of the Special Assistant to PM Haroon Akhtar Khan, convened a series of five meetings with regional stakeholders, including banks and industries departments of Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) for equitable promotion of the SME financing across Pakistan. Nadia Jahangir Seth, Chief Executive Officer of SMEDA, convened the meetings today in collaboration with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), which were attended by the representatives of Sindh Bank, Bank of Khyber, the SBP, Pakistan Banks Association (PBA) and the provincial industries Departments. The SAPM has directed the replication of the SME financing scheme developed by the Bank of Punjab, which has proved quite a success as more than 110,000 people have benefited, and almost 50 per cent of borrowers were from low-income groups. Seth further stated that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, during steering committee meetings, had also emphasised the need to expand credit access to SMEs across Pakistan. She also highlighted SMEDA's role in promoting access to finance as a pillar of its business plan and expressed resolve to expedite efforts to improve the SME finance ecosystem across Pakistan. As for on-ground support, Seth said, SMEDA could help SMEs overcome demand-side challenges such as financial literacy and training and share studies on potential clusters. She said banks and financial institutions had a greater role to play, and the respective provincial governments should take ownership and lead from the front. An SBP presentation disclosed that SME financing currently stands at Rs30.48 billion with over 9,500 borrowers in K-P, Rs7.19 billion with 2,412 borrowers in Balochistan, Rs3.96 billion with 1,960 borrowers in G-B and Rs5.48 billion in AJK. The participants highlighted the success of the Sindh Enterprise Development Fund (SEDF), which has supported over 250 projects and 10,000 microloans.