'Certified to borrow" training camp concluded in Multan

MULTAN, Oct 13th: Syed Jamal Baqar Group Chief  National Bank of Pakistan has said that NBP initiatives to support SME financing mainly include improving regulatory framework through revising prudential regulations, strengthening secured transactions framework and introduction of SME targets, market development through SME supportive subsidized refinance schemes, risk coverage scheme, Islamic SME financing, cluster surveys and non financial advisory service and  improving capacity building and awareness creation of bankers and SMEs. He was addressing a concluding session of four-Day certified to borrow Training camp jointly organised by Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI). SBP and National Bank of Pakistan. Jamal Baqar said that National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) and strategic direction of SBP, SME sector has been identified as one of the key priority areas. In line with the strategic direction of SBP, key benchmarks to be achieved by 2020 are to increase SME share from existing 8 percent of private sector credit to 17 percent and  to increase number of borrowers from existing 174,000 to 500,000. MCCI President Sheikh Fazal Elahi has said that Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the country’s economy as 60 percent population is based in rural areas and is contributing in the development of the country. He threw light on the problems confronted by the SMEs in getting loans from the banks. SMEs constitute nearly 90% of all the enterprises in Pakistan; employ 80% of the non-agricultural labor force; and their share in the annual GDP is 40%, approximately.In a country like Pakistan where more than 60% of the population is rural based it is very important to enhance the capacities of rural centric SMEs to help them scale and contribute to the overall economic growth.He further said that unlike large enterprises in the formal sector, a small and medium enterprise is constrained by financial and other resources. Chief Manager SBP Sarfraz Ahmed Nadeem has appreciated the National Bank's efforts to organised this informative and fruitful discussion.he said,"Significance of SMEs is also evident from the fact that they constitute over 90 percent of estimated 3.2 million business enterprises in the country1. In overall macroeconomic terms, SMEs (defined on the basis of number of employees) contribute 30 percent to GDP of the country and 25 percent in export earnings, again endorsing the significance of the sector to our economy. NBP regional head Nasir Abbas offered to facilitate the SMEs in all possible ways with an open mind for new products under their risk management system.He added that NBP had almost all the financing schemes for every kind of SMEs.He said that SME help desk was operational at NBP's main branches and regional offices. Director Staff College Sultan Mehmood said that such training camps would help promote SMEs and added that special quota of loans had been allocated for women ,underdeveloped areas particularly Balochistan province.Rabia Tahir, Aziz Ahmed Khakwani, Kamran Khan Tareen ,Zahid Mehboob,Shehryar Maral also spoke.