Women financial inclusion vital for economic growth, stresses SBP Baqir

Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Reza Baqir on Monday urged stakeholders to play their role in increasing women’s financial inclusion if the country aims to achieve its economic aspirations.

Governor SBP was addressing at an event by Sehat Kahani - a female lead tech-based telemedicine provider, which has benefited from SBP’s refinance and credit guarantee scheme for women entrepreneurs, to expand its franchise network of nurse-assisted e-clinics.

Governor SBP invited startups to come forward with good ideas, saying that the central bank will facilitate them. He said we are participating in the event in order to support our startup culture and the role of women in the economic sphere of the country.

Praising Sehat Kahani a startup being led by women entrepreneurs, Baqir termed it as a good demonstration and a good example for all those other women in business “who are aspiring to do something new.”

He said that the role of women in economic development is an important part of our economy however it is often ‘under-recognized and under-emphasized.’

“50 percent of the country's asset base as far as human resources are concerned are women. So we would not be doing justice as a country for our economic aspirations if we do not recognize that such sector of the society has to be supported so that they can play the role in the economic development of our country,” said Baqir.

The central bank chief said that in order to increase female economic inclusion the SBP has launched a number of programs.

“To address the current state of financial inclusion of women in the country we have developed a strategy called ‘Banking on Equality’ under which we use our regulatory powers in the financial institutions to increase the women financial inclusion.”

“Secondly, the SBP launched a scheme under which any woman wants to start a business or is running her own business get loans on a low-interest rate.” He said that despite the scheme being in offing for quite some time, the take up has not been as expected.

On promoting startups, he said that using e-commerce the State Bank wants to facilitate masses through IT startups. Bair expressed delight over the funding of over $1 million was achieved in the E-Commerce sector.

In order to support innovation in the country, the central bank has introduced a number of innovative measures informed Baqir including the launch of the Rozgar Payroll Financing Scheme, under the scheme loans worth up to Rs 250 billion were approved and millions of jobs were protected.

“Secondly we introduce a scheme to support investment called the Temporary Economic Refinance Facility (TERF) during the COVID-19 pandemic to boost the investment flow,” he said.

Baqir also highlighted the launch of the Roshan Digital Account (RDA) for Overseas Pakistani, informing that over a hundred thousand Overseas Pakistanis have opened the RDAs. He added that the central bank has also launched that Raast payment system as a move to shift Pakistan's economy from cash-based to a digital-based economy.