EFP lauds SBP refinance scheme for payment of wages and salaries

Governor State Bank of Pakistan Reza Baqir has said that SBP is constantly working with stakeholders and taking appropriate measures to bring financial relief and provide pragmatic support to the industries in order to maintain financial solvency and retention of the workforce especially in these trying times. "SBP is constantly engaged with bankers to ensure that the initiatives undertaken by SBP are implemented on fast track basis in order to achieve the objectives", he said while speaking at a meeting with Directors of Employers Federation of Pakistan through a 75-minute video conference to discuss the SBP Refinance Scheme for Payment of Wages and Salaries to the workers and employees of business concerns.

President EFP Majyd Aziz, Vice President Zaki Ahmed Khan, Chairman EFP Economic Council Ismail Suttar, Chief of KPK Haji Muhammad Javed, Co-chief of Punjab Malik Tahir Javed, Chairman of WEBCOP and Skill Development Council Ahsanullah Khan, Iftikhar Shirazi, Yousuf Mirza, Athar Iqbal, Mehnaz Kaludi, Syed Nazar Ali, Director EFP-EC Mehmood Arshad and Secretary General EFP Fasihul Karim Siddiqui were also present at the meeting.

Dr Baqir, who was assisted by Deputy Governor Jameel Ahmed and Executive Directors Syed Samar Hasnain and Dr Inayat Hussain, explained that suitable safeguards have been incorporated in the scheme to avoid its misuse. These include direct deposit of wages and salaries into worker's accounts, payment through employers to workers if the employers provide complete information to the lending banks and priority to those employers whose payroll amount is up to Rs 200 million for three months.

Moreover, the active taxpayers would get a discount of 1 percent in the markup rates as an incentive. Dr Baqir also shared that SBP has taken into account the concerns of the SMEs while structuring the scheme. He also assured that SBP is willing to bring about changes in the scheme after continued consultations with the employers and the financial institutions.

SBP Governor also informed that a one-year deferment on payment of principal has already been provided to borrowers. This is a major relief for borrowers, and until now, over 70,000 have availed this benefit and corresponding principal amount is in excess of Rs 5 billion. This is a definitely a huge relief since SBP has taken full cognizance of the difficult conditions faced by borrowers.

Earlier, while welcoming the top hierarchy of SBP, Majyd Aziz, President EFP, assured the Governor that EFP supports this scheme and would encourage employers to take advantage of the scheme.

He explained that the objective of this video conference was to provide suggestions and seek clarification from SBP in order to better understand the scheme and make it more favorable for all.-PR