President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum Mian Zahid Hussain has said confidence of SMEs has plunged and will slide further due to economic slowdown. He said that ninety-six percent businesses fall under the SME category which should be bailed out through a meaningful intervention followed by a proper long-term policy.

He said policymakers are too much focused on heavy industry ignoring SME, services and agriculture sector which results in frequent food crisis and other issues.

He said that a recent survey comprising 920 SMEs revealed that virus has infected operation of 95 percent of SMEs while many lost export orders. Around 23 percent have lost entire export orders, 92 percent faced disruption while 48 percent have fired employees.