Federal Minister for Housing and Works, Syed Safwanullah has underlined the importance of microfinance and said that it can play pivotal role in reducing poverty and brining abut progress and prosperity in Pakistan.
Inaugurating the workshop on "Microfinance: The Poverty Reduction" organised by the Institute of Bankers Pakistan (IBP), he emphasised on greater efforts for facilitating easy access to microfinance loans. "The private sector should start new schemes for providing easy loans to the poor", he said adding that "the schemes should be formulated and implemented in a way that they benefit the maximum number of people".
The minister said that the government had launched a number of microfinance schemes in the housing sector. In this regard he quoted the example of "Orangi Township" where small loans had played important role in improving the lot of the poor people. The project has achieved 99 percent loan recovery which is a proof of effectiveness of microfinance for poverty alleviation", he added.
In his keynote address, Ozair A. Hanafi, President and CEO of Pak Oman Microfinance Bank Limited said that microfinance had remained a neglected area in the past. However, he added, this sector has now started gaining ground which is reflected by the increasing use of microfinance.-PR
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