State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Ishrat Hussain said the commercial banks in Pakistan were actively involved to promote Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country through micro financing. Speaking as chief guest at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and UN joint of launching of the report of the United Nations' Secretary General on "Unleashing Enterpreneureship" on Tuesday night, he said during last years the number of borrowers had increased from 0.5 million to 2 million which reflects the keenness of banking sector to promote Entrepreneurship in the Country.
He said experience of loaning to Small and Medium Enterprises had proved great success as the return-ratio of the credit from that sector had been accounted for 95 percent, which was many times higher as compared to large sector.
The governor said finning big projects had higher risk than providing finances SMEs. Banks had also started financing agriculture sector and now total credit in that sector had reached almost Rs 85 billion.
He appreciated both English and Urdu version of the report which was presented by UNDPs Commission on Private Sector Development to the UN Secretary General.
United Nation Development Program Regional Director and Assistant Administrator Dr Hafiz Pasha said private sector and civil society organisations were real agents of change and growth of the global economy.
He further said the promotion of Women and Young Entrepreneurship was the earnest desire of UN Secretary General.
The UNDP Commission on Private Sector Development Programme was mainly focusing to promote Women and Young Entrepreneurship and had established Private Sector Development Fund to obtain the objective of Poverty Reduction which was also the major thrust of that Report.
Dr Hafiz Pasha lauded the endeavours of FPCCI for bringing out the Urdu edition of the report in a very short time and said it would help promoting the ideas and recommendations of UNDP amongst those Pakistani Entrepreneurs who were not well versed with English language. He also promised to carry out such projects with FPCCI in future.
He appreciated the Research Department of FPCCI chaired by Tariq Sayeed, former President of FPCCI for completing the assignment of Urdu Edition in prolific manner and expressed satisfaction over its quality.
He also, particularly appreciated FPCCI Director Research Muhammad Iqbal Tabish for its translation and regarded it as splendid effort to promote the cause of UNDP.
He said the Urdu version of the book was the first ever translation of any publication of the United Nations in other language than English.
Earlier, FPCCI Vice President Arshad Alam in his welcome address appreciated the endeavours of Dr Hafiz Pasha for his vision to alleviate Poverty through the promotion of Entrepreneurship and extended gratitude to Dr Pasha for assigning the task of publication of Urdu edition of UNDP's Publication.
He said FPCCI was also ready for active participation in the follow up process and implementation plan recommended in that Report and added the promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises was vital to obtain the objective of Poverty Alleviation through the creation of employment opportunities.
Advisor to the UNDP Furraukh Moriani gave presentation of the Report and enlightened the audience with the ideas recommended in the UNDP's Publication.
Comments
Comments are closed.