KARACHI, Jan 15 (APP): Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, Ahsan Iqbal stressing on measures for provision of credit to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) on Wednesday called upon the banks to take steps for providing credit to SMEs to help the sector further contribute in the expansion of the economy.
He said this while sharing his views with media after his meeting with the Chief Executive Officers of the banks at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), here.
He observed that if we make it easier for the banking sector to provide credit to SMEs as well as exporting sector, it will be easier for us to expand further.
Talking about his meeting with the heads of banks, Ahsan Iqbal urged them to establish a dedicated window for export development in every bank, providing credit facilities to exporters.
The Federal Minister said that today’s world is a world of competition and only the countries with strong economies are successful.
He said that it is not possible for a country whose economy is weak to pull-out the people out of poverty and provide a good standard of living to them. This has always been the policy of the PML-N to do development-based politics in Pakistan, this is the reason why whenever Muhammad Nawaz Sharif becomes the prime minister, he tried to take Pakistan towards a new economic direction, he observed.
Speaking about the Udaan Pakistan, he said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched a five-year plan called Udaan Pakistan, which we call the National Economic Transformational Plan, with the aim to put Pakistan on the basis of long-term growth, therefore the next four years of the country are very important.
He said that now Pakistan is once again in a position from where the country can achieve a sustainable growth and for this purpose we will have to work together with people in every walk of life.
He said that our goal is to double the volume of exports in the next five years. For this, we have identified eight sectors include agriculture and industry.
He said that is our industry, in which we have a lot of potential and through which we want to industrialize Pakistan. The third is services sector, which have many services and this includes tourism and hospitality.
He said that the fourth is the industrial sector, through which we can earn foreign exchange and this is our most promising sector.
The Federal Minister said that our mining sector is another sector which got potential as Allah Almighty has enriched us with minerals. The big success in the sector was Thar coal, in which the PML-N government, together with the provincial government of Sindh, paved the way for financing and technology by linking Thar coal to CPEC, and today, Alhamdulillah, those Thar coal deposits are the cheapest source of energy generation in Pakistan, he said.
Similarly, there are copper deposits in Balochistan, and there are countless other minerals in the country, from which we will benefit, he said.
The Federal Minister said that our manpower is another sector, through which we are already earning foreign exchange, and we have the potential to double it. In the sector where manpower is needed all over the world, we can become a source of earning foreign exchange through it, he said.
He said that the seventh sector is the blue economy as we have a 1200-kilometer coastal belt. Pakistan has oceans and coastal areas, and the minerals under the sea also have a lot of wealth hidden in them, which we can utilize and earn foreign exchange from.
Ahsan Iqbal said that the eighth sector is the creative industry, which includes art, culture, fashion, design, and film. The youth of Pakistan are rich in their talents and are proving themselves in these areas. The government will support this sector and we will be able to earn foreign exchange from this too, he said.
He said that in these eight sectors, we have asked banks to provide credit to businesses so that through expansion, Pakistan can achieve progress in the export sector and increase it.
He said that similarly, we have also requested banks that they should introduce an easy laptop leasing scheme for students on the pattern of auto leasing, so that our university students can get laptops on easy terms. Every student of university needs a laptop for study, he said.
He said that in collaboration with the State Bank and banks, scholarships should be started to fulfill the dreams of the youth who take admission in the world’s top universities and do not have the resources to study there. We have also discussed this with the banks and the banks have also agreed to cooperate for this purpose.
He said that the Udaan Pakistan program is not just the government’s program, it is the program of the nation and Pakistan, it is the program of every Pakistani. Now we have that milestone in front of us when after 22 years, we will celebrate 100 years of independence in 2047.
The Federal Minster expressed confidence that if we implement Udaan Pakistan program, as a result, we got potential to become the number one economy in this region.