State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) have vowed to work together to create synergy for unleashing the true potential of SMEs through provision of demand driven financial products and services using.
A meeting between Smeda Chief Executive Officer Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera and Governor State Bank Yaseen Anwar discussed areas of mutual interest and prospective collaboration between the two organisations. Both the organisations also resolved to strengthen institutional ties for increasing SMEs access to finance. The Governor shared his views on the importance and depth of the hitherto untapped SME market and the importance of financial inclusion for catalysing SME growth and new enterprise creation.
He also highlighted the need of financing institutions, in terms of their capacity to assess SMEs credit needs and said that joint programs focusing on enhancing capacity of banks to extend credit to SMEs as well as making SMEs bankable should be developed. The effective role of the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Small and Rural Enterprises implemented by the State Bank of Pakistan also came under discussion.
Smeda chief thanked the SBP Governor for the recent inclusion of SMEDA on the Technical Committee on Credit Guarantee Scheme and said that this would bring demand side issues to the table in a more effective manner and would result in an enhanced access to finance for the SME sector. He also appreciated SBP's recently developed framework for e-payment gateway that would revolutionise e-commerce in the country and also shared views of the stakeholders on the same.