LAHORE: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) for Industries and Production Haroon Akhtar Khan on Friday underscored the need for coordinated efforts across the country to improve credit access for micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in line with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s SME development vision.
Presiding over a meeting of key financial institutions, the SAPM directed the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) to work closely with provincial governments, banks and other institutions to accelerate access to finance for SMEs, particularly in underserved regions such as Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
The meeting was attended by representatives of national and provincial financial institutions. The SAPM said SMEDA must strengthen engagement and collaboration with all stakeholders to enable more entrepreneurs to access credit and scale up their businesses. He also called for the formation of a working group to align efforts through training and improved connectivity.
Lauding the Punjab government’s Asaan Karobar Finance Scheme, he urged other provinces to replicate the model and expand the number of beneficiaries nationwide.
On the occasion, SMEDA Chief Executive Officer Nadia Jahangir Seth highlighted the organisation’s efforts to improve access to finance as a key pillar of its business plan and reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening the SME financing ecosystem.
Earlier, the Punjab Small Industries Corporation (PSIC) gave a presentation on the chief minister’s Asaan Karobar Finance Scheme, under which a record Rs100 billion has been disbursed to entrepreneurs in less than a year.
Officials said the scheme, launched through the Bank of Punjab, had proven successful, with more than 110,000 beneficiaries, nearly half of whom belong to low-income groups.
A State Bank of Pakistan representative provided an overview of SME financing in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh. He noted that Sindh Bank maintains an SME financing portfolio of Rs10 billion, but highlighted the absence of significant schemes in KP and Balochistan.
He stressed the need to expand coverage in underserved areas, adding that central banks in the Philippines and Bangladesh have shown interest in Pakistan’s SME financing models and expressed a desire to study and replicate them.
A senior Bank of Punjab official suggested that SMEDA should join the SME Forum to strengthen collaborative efforts.
Representatives of other financial institutions also briefed the SAPM on their SME-focused products and pledged to further enhance financing in coordination with SMEDA, in line with the prime minister’s vision.
