SMEs backbone of economy across world: Punjab finance minister

LAHORE, Jan 05 (APP): Provincial Minister for Finance Dr Ayesha Ghaus Pasha has said that Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) worldwide are considered the backbone of an economy, being a major source of innovation, growth, job creation and modernisation.
While addressing the inaugural session of a workshop,
organised by the University of Queensland Business School-
Australia and AGAHE Pakistan jointly on ‘Creating Wealth in
Smallholders’ Farms through Efficient Credit Systems in
Pakistan’ at a local hotel here on Friday, she said that
there were around 3.2 million SMEs in Pakistan of which 65%
are operating in the Punjab.
She said that amidst the initiatives taken by the Punjab
Agriculture Department, Punjab E-credit Scheme was one and was
known as ‘Empowerment of Kissan Through Digital & Financial
Inclusion’. This is a hassle & interest free loan provision
to farmers through Mobile Wallets (Branchless Channel). In
additional to loans, provision of smart phones with in-built
agriculture mobile applications for farm advisory is also
part of the programme, she added.
The provincial minister said that the objective of the
Interest Free Agri, E-Credit Scheme was to reduce the cost of
production for the marginalised farmers and to increase the
outreach of formal and digital financial services to meet the
agenda of financial inclusion.
To facilitate credit to SMEs in Punjab, a series of meetings
was held with SBP, commercial banks and other stakeholders
including Chambers of Commerce & Industry and SME Associations
to firm up a proposal for introducing a loaning scheme for the
SMEs. After thorough discussions and deliberations at various
forums two schemes (Loan Mark-up Support Program and Credit
Guarantee Scheme) have been proposed for Development & Promotion of
SMEs, she added.
Australian High Commissioner Mrs Margaret Adamson, Pakistan
High commissioner for Australia Mrs Naela Chohan, Secretary
Agriculture M Mehmood Rai, CEO Pakistan Microfinance
Company Yasir Ashfaq were also present on this occasion.
Margaret Adamson admired the 17 years old positive
diplomat relationship between Pakistan and Australia. She said
that Australia was not only providing Educational Scholarships
but also investing other Sectors including employment
generation and women empowerment.
She said that the objective of workshop was to provide a
platform for knowledge exchange, discussion and networking
focused on smallholder’s access to agricultural finance.
She said that the preliminary findings of the study were
also shared, which was funded by the Australian Centre for
International Agriculture Research (ACIAR) and implemented in
collaboration with Pakistan Agriculture Research Council
(PARC). “Credit is an important enabler for smallholders’ farm
productivity and profitability and can play a vital role in
improving food security. Despite the increase in sources of
formal and informal agricultural financing in recent years,
smallholders still have limited access to credit sources in
Pakistan. We will help to fill this gap too, she added.
Naela Chohan said that to enhance international and
national development, the Sustainable Development Goals had
been accepted by the international community, aimed to
eradicate poverty particularly of women. In this regard,
micro-financing in agriculture is now being recognised at the
most effective form of financial assistance for development
that has its primary objective of alleviating poverty
especially of women who are the invisible farmers, she added.
Muhammad Mehmood Rai and Yasir Ashfaq also expressed
their views.