SMEDA leads key consultations to boost SME financing across Pakistan

LAHORE: The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), on advice of Prime Minister’s Special Assistant (SAPM) Haroon Akhtar Khan, convened a series of five high level meetings with regional stakeholders including banks and industries departments of Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, AJK and Gilgit Baltistan for equitable promotion of the SME financing across Pakistan.

SMEDA Chief Executive Officer Nadia Jahangir Seth convened the meetings here Wednesday in collaboration with State Bank of Pakistan, which were attended by the representatives of Sindh Bank, Bank of Khyber, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Pakistan Banks Association (PBA) and the provincial industries Departments.

She informed on this occasion that Ministry of Industries and Production, in line with SME development vision of the Prime Minister, was working hard to promote the SME financing in all regions of the country so that the SMEs can grow and contribute larger share in the national economy by expanding their trade both in the local and international markets.

SMEDA CEO urged the participants to transform the PM vision into reality by enhancing the volume of SME financing as well as increasing the number of beneficiaries from SME sector in the respective regions. In this regard, the SAPM has directed to replicate the SME financing scheme developed by the Bank of Punjab, which has proved quite a success as more than 110,000 people had benefited and almost 50 percent of borrowers were from low-income groups.

The CEO said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, during steering committee meetings, had also emphasized 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, Ms. 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 official of the State Bank of Pakistan gave presentations on SME financing situation in all the provinces, which disclosed that the SME financing currently stands at Rs30.48 billion with over 9,500 borrowers in KP, Rs7.19 billion with 2,412 borrowers in Balochistan, Rs3.96 billion with 1,960 borrowers in Gilgit-Baltistan and Rs5.48 billion in AJ&K.

The participants also reviewed SME financing trends in Sindh, noting growth in outstanding loans and borrower base. They highlighted the success of the Sindh Enterprise Development Fund (SEDF), which has supported over 250 projects and 10,000 microloans with zero non-performing loans over the past 15 years. Sindh Bank shared its focus on SME financing since 2024, reporting significant portfolio growth.

The participants highlighted challenges such as declining borrower numbers, geographic disparities and low digital literacy in several areas. They emphasized the need for tailored financing solutions.

Najam-us-Saqib, Additional Director of SBP informed on this occasion that the Central Bank had offered clean lending up to Rs50 million under revised Prudential Regulations, making it convenient for borrowers to avail themselves of the financing facility. He said the SBP, in collaboration with SMEDA, would coordinate meetings of officials with BoP teams to enable them to get ideas and insights and consider replicating Punjab’s model or coming up with theiru own initiatives of the similar pattern.

The meetings concluded with collective resolve to make concerted efforts by all stakeholders – entrepreneurs, trade bodies, banks and development finance institutions, and provincial governments – to develop programmes to enhance financing facilities for the SMEs and help them meaningfully contribute to national economic growth.

It is notable that the first meeting of this series was personally convened by the SAPM Mr. Haroon Akhtar Khan last week, in which he had called for coordinated national efforts to significantly enhance access to finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), particularly in underserved areas, in which he had directed SMEDA to lead efforts in building partnerships among financing institutions to accelerate credit access for SMEs across the country on the pattern of CM Punjab’s Asaan Karobar Finance Scheme. APP