ISLAMABAD: The Board of Directors (BoD) of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) has approved to amend the SMEDA Ordinance 2002 in line with State-Owned Enterprise (SOEs) Act-2023, SMEDA Business Plan-2024-27, and the SME Development Special Fund Rules-2024.
Taking the SME development as a priority agenda of the present government, the 22nd meeting of the SMEDA Board of Directors was held here on Friday at the Ministry of Industries and Production (MOIP) chaired by Rana Tanveer Hussain, federal minister industries and production.
The board also granted approval to SMEDA’s budget, annual audited accounts for the last three years, and the revised financial regulations of SMEDA.
PM forms steering body on Smeda
Hussain, while addressing SMEDA Board meeting, said that the present government had approved a special SME Development Fund of Rs 30 billion, out of which, initially a chunk of Rs5 billion has been allocated.
The minister said that as per the directions of the prime minister, the SMEDA BoD will make all possible efforts for the promotion of sub-contracting in industries and underlined the need to take steps to make these industries part of the global supply chain.
It was further informed that Rs 491 billion had been provided in bank credit to the SME sector, which needed to be raised to Rs 800 billion. It was further informed that there are currently 5.2 million small and medium enterprises in Pakistan, which contribute 40 percent of the country’s GDP, while 31 percent of exports also depend on SMEs.
The minister said that the SMEDA’s Special Funds Rules 2024 would pave the way for rapid growth of SMEs in the country. He further said that formation of the new SMEDA Board was due for a couple of years and the Federal Cabinet of the present government, in its meeting dated 20th September 2024 granted approval to form SMEDA board with immediate effect.
He said that the federal government is spearheading SME development to create a conducive business environment for SMEs, enabling them to address the prevailing challenges. He said that the prime minister of Pakistan had established a Steering Committee on SMEs for monitoring and tracking SME development in the country.
The committee has been entrusted to oversee initiatives and ensure the implementation of the National SME Policy. The decisions made in NCC meetings are critical for SME development in Pakistan, and all relevant departments have been advised to make every effort to implement these decisions, he said and hoped that the decisions taken in the current SMEDA Board Meeting would enable SMEDA to serve SME sector of the country amicably with the enhanced strength and commitment.
The meeting was attended by six ex-officio members from the government side, whereas,four members from the private sector. The ex-officio members included Rana Tanveer Hussain, federal minister industries and production (Chairman); Saif Anjum, federal secretary industries and production; Munir Ahmed, joint secretary Ministry of Finance; Aizaz Hussain, Chief Income Tax Policy; Shakeel Ahmed Mangnejo, special secretary Commerce, and Socrat Aman Rana, CEO SMEDA.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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