PM Shehbaz orders easy loans for SMEs to boost national economy

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Monday directed relevant authorities to accelerate measures to ensure that banks and other financial institutions provide loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on easy terms.

PM Shehbaz stated this presiding over a meeting regarding the business plan of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) to promote small and medium-sized businesses in the country, the PM Office said in a press release.

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During the meeting, a three-year roadmap for the promotion of SMEs was presented. The prime minister lauded Special Assistant for Industries & Production Division Haroon Akhtar and the newly elected Board of Directors of SMEDA for formulating a practical and effective plan.

The premier remarked that small and medium-sized businesses serve as the backbone of the national economy and emphasised that the development of the SME sector holds immense potential for increasing national exports..

The meeting was given a detailed briefing on the challenges faced by SMEs and the action plan to address them, the strategy to integrate SMEs into national exports, and other initiatives included in the business plan.

Furthermore, the briefing covered ongoing measures to enhance cooperation with various countries to introduce Pakistan’s SME sector to the global market on a competitive basis. It was noted that several workshops have recently been conducted in six cities to increase the capacity of local SMEs, and various training programmes are underway to prepare small businesses for global competition.

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Measures regarding the participation and active role of women in the SME sector were also discussed. The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar, SAPM Haroon, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad, the chief secretaries of all four provinces, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan, as well as the newly elected board members of SMEDA and officials from relevant institutions.