ISLAMABAD: The Adviser on Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin, has stated that the government wanted to revitalise the SMEs for the economic and social development of Pakistan.

The adviser, on Thursday, said this while chairing a meeting on revitalizing SMEDA.

Federal Minister for Industries and Production Khusro Bakhtiar, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Small and Medium Development Authority (SMEDA), and senior officers attended the meeting.

CEO SMEDA gave a presentation on the organization’s functions and performance and briefed the adviser on the challenges and way forward for further enhancing SMEDA’s performance.

In his remarks, Bakhtiar underlined the recently-announced SME Policy is a key government initiative for sustainable and inclusive economic growth and SMEDA, being the only federal government organisation for SME development, needs to be further strengthened for growth of this sector.

Tarin, while highlighting the vision of the prime minister to revitalise the SMEs for the economic and social development of Pakistan, said that the revitalisation and strengthening of SMEDA and SME Bank is essential to achieve the targets of SME policy as SMEs are the backbone of the economy.

Tarin further stressed that SMEDA needs to be financial and administratively autonomous with greater private sector role and must consider investments in offering credit guarantees, venture capital, setting up SME subcontracting houses and SME Special Economic Zones through the Rs30 billion SME fund committed for the authority.

Bakhtiar proposed larger number of private sector in SMEDA and that the Ministry of Industries and Production will move swiftly to propose necessary amendments in the SMEDA Ordinance, 2002.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021