ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formed a steering committee regarding Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) to be chaired by the premier himself.

The prime minister on Friday chaired a meeting regarding Smeda and stated that small and medium businesses were the backbone of the country’s economy.

The prime minister’s expressed indignation at the inactivity of Smeda Board and issued directive to immediately constitute the Board of Smeda.

PM directs bringing SMEDA under PMO

The boards of all such institutions which were very important for the country’s economy should be formed immediately, he further instructed.

The PM directed to take necessary steps for the immediate appointment of Smeda’s chief executive officer. He also directed to form a steering committee regarding Smeda which would be chaired by the prime minister himself.

People related to the private sector should also be included in the steering committee, he instructed.

The premier directed to promote sub-contracting in industries and stated that Pakistani industries needed to take strong steps to become part of the global supply chain.

The prime minister on Smeda was briefed that for the first time, a development fund had been set up for Smeda.

Smeda Development Fund of Rs30 billion has been allocated for six years, of which, Rs5 billion has been provided for the year 2024-25, the meeting was informed.

The meeting was told that there were currently 5.2 million small and medium enterprises in Pakistan, which accounted for 40 percent of the country’s GDP; 31 per cent of the country’s exports depended on SMEs.

Apart from non-agricultural employment, SME sector provides 72 per cent of employment: the meeting was informed that so far Rs491 billion had been provided in the form of bank credit for the SME sector, but bank credit for the SME sector needed to be taken up to Rs800 billion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024