PM directs better coordination, SMEDA activation for SMEs growth

ISLAMABAD, Sep 6 (APP):Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday directed the commerce ministry to ensure better coordination among the federal and provincial departments and further activate the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority for uplift of the SMEs sector.

The prime minister was chairing a meeting of his economic team which discussed the measures for uplift of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), construction sector, poverty alleviation, progress on the anti-poverty program Ehsaas and steps by different ministries to accelerate the economic growth, a PM Office statement said.

During the meeting, a progress report on the implementation of the decisions taken during the previous meeting was presented to the prime minister.

While briefing on the measures taken to boost the SMEs sector, the governor State Bank of Pakistan told the prime minister that uplift of SMEs, agriculture and the construction sectors were among their priorities.

The prime minister was told that the SMEs’ contribution in the business was around 90 percent and 40 percent in the total production. Besides agriculture, around 80 percent of the country’s workforce was linked with the SMEs sector.

It was told that the regulatory framework and loan disbursement methods had been eased to facilitate the SMEs. The loan limit had been extended to Rs 1 million besides reducing the small loan processing duration from one month to 15 days and 25 days for medium loans.