LAHORE:Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Hashim Raza discussed modalities of the special initiatives proposed in the SME Policy for enhancing SMEs’ access to finance, with Ms Sima Kamil, deputy governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), here on Wednesday.
The meeting was also attended by other senior SBP officials.
The deputy governor said that the SME sector was a priority of the SBP, which had also been reflected in the recent SME financing schemes of the bank. She promised extend full cooperation in further improving the access to finance the SMEs. The initiatives introduced in the new SME policy would be looked after carefully, she added.
CEO Smeda Hashim Raza appreciated the SBP efforts to help promote SME financing through banking industry. He acknowledged that the SBP’s conducive policies towards SME financing had encouraged SMEs to approach formal sector for meeting their financing needs. However, he said that the space for further ease for the SME financing is required in banking industry.
The annual borrowings of the SMEs stand at Rs 450 billion, which is only 6.5 per cent of the total loans. The SME financing, in this scenario, falls at the lowest end and has a room for another chunk of about Rs.900 billion loans from the formal credit market.