Provinces asked to take lead in expanding SME financing

ISLAMABAD: The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), acting on the advice of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Haroon Akhtar Khan, held a series of five meetings with regional stakeholders to promote more balanced growth in small and medium enterprise financing across Pakistan.

The meetings were convened by SMEDA Chief Executive Officer Nadia Jahangir Seth in collaboration with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). Representatives from Sindh Bank, Bank of Khyber, the SBP, the Pakistan Banks Association (PBA), and provincial industries departments took part in the discussions. The meetings involved stakeholders from Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B).

Seth said the special assistant had directed that the SME financing model developed by the Bank of Punjab should be replicated elsewhere. She said the scheme had delivered strong results, with more than 110,000 people benefiting from it, while nearly 50 per cent of borrowers belonged to low-income groups.

She further said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had also stressed during steering committee meetings that access to credit for SMEs should be widened across the country.

Seth said improving access to finance remained one of the central pillars of SMEDA’s business plan and added that the authority was committed to accelerating efforts aimed at strengthening the SME finance ecosystem nationwide.

Referring to support at the operational level, she said SMEDA could assist small and medium enterprises in addressing demand-side constraints, including financial literacy and training, and could also share studies related to potential business clusters.

She said banks and financial institutions had an important part to play in this process, while provincial governments should assume ownership of the effort and lead from the front.

Regional financing figures shared

An SBP presentation shared during the meetings showed that SME financing in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa currently stands at Rs30.48 billion, with more than 9,500 borrowers. In Balochistan, the figure was reported at Rs7.19 billion with 2,412 borrowers.

The presentation also stated that SME financing in Gilgit-Baltistan stood at Rs3.96 billion with 1,960 borrowers, while AJK recorded Rs5.48 billion.

Sindh fund highlighted in discussions

Participants in the meetings also pointed to the performance of the Sindh Enterprise Development Fund (SEDF). They said the fund had supported more than 250 projects and facilitated 10,000 microloans.

The discussions were held as part of efforts to improve the reach of SME financing in different regions and to encourage provincial authorities and financial institutions to play a more active role in expanding credit access.