Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif emphasized the critical role of timely loan provision to agriculture, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and the housing sector in stimulating economic growth. At a high-level meeting in Islamabad focused on enhancing access to finance for these sectors, the Prime Minister underscored the importance of active participation by banks in loan disbursement.
According to Radio Pakistan, the Prime Minister lauded banks that have been proactive in supporting these priority development sectors and called on underperforming financial institutions to enhance their contributions to earn government recognition. He instructed relevant ministries, secretaries, and the State Bank of Pakistan to conclude consultations with stakeholders in the agriculture, SME, and housing finance sectors by month’s end and to present recommendations for improving ongoing schemes.
The Prime Minister directed that inactive PASSCO warehouses and silos be utilized through public-private partnerships to increase their capacity for storing farmers’ produce. He also commended Allied Bank for its model of establishing commodity storage warehouses and providing loans to farmers and urged its expansion with private sector involvement. Further, he praised the bank’s investment project for the proposed SME Park.
In efforts to simplify access to the Prime Minister’s Apna Ghar Housing Scheme, he instructed authorities to ease documentation requirements and finalize recommendations on developers’ finance promptly. The meeting reviewed data on loan provision across the housing, agriculture, and SME sectors, noting that banks are enhancing their institutional capacity in these areas.
The meeting was informed that under the Apna Ghar Scheme, 75,198 loans totaling 448 billion rupees have been approved, with 76 billion rupees disbursed to 14,000 beneficiaries. The target for the current year is set at 700 billion rupees for financing 125,000 housing units. For agricultural loans, the total volume stands at 1,352 billion rupees, with a target of 1,500 billion rupees by June 2027. Similarly, loans amounting to 1,137 billion rupees have been disbursed to over 352,000 SME sector businessmen, with plans to expand total credit to 1,500 billion rupees by June 2027.
Efforts are underway to simplify and enhance the effectiveness of regulations for SMEs and housing finance, with ongoing measures including joint risk-sharing in loan provision, supply chain financing promotion, and authentic data sharing.