SBP receives 2,100 applications about financing scheme

RAWALPINDI: Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Raza Baqir has said that SBP has introduced financing schemes for small and medium enterprises.

The SBP has received more than 2,100 applications to avail financing under the scheme for payment of wages and salaries of their employees, where 1320 applications has been processed and more than 96 billion dispersed to meet their salary expenses.

Addressing a virtual session with different chambers of commerce here on Wednesday, Raza Baqir said that the major aim of this session was to get real time feedback on finance schemes and collect suggestions to make it a more robust scheme. He appreciated recommendations on documentation and guarantees requirements and said that commercial banks were directed to process the requests of upto 5 million loans without hefty collateral and guarantee against a loan.

Saboor Malik, President, Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, while addressing the virtual session, said that the guarantee and procedure for obtaining the financing scheme announced by the SBP for SMEs should be further relaxed.

Services sector, hotels, wedding halls, tourism, travel sector has suffered most due to corona and lock down. Special package should be announced for these sectors, he demanded. Traders associated with Haj and Umrah are facing many difficulties. The duration of the scheme should be further extended. It is difficult for a small trader to obtain the required documents from the bank such as a three-year balance sheet and the projected finances.

RCCI president said that such a meeting should be held every month. He appreciated the initiative of the SBP governor and said that this was the first time that a detailed meeting had been held with the SBP governor with chambers across the country. He also offered suggestions for resolving the financing problems faced by small businesses and the SME sector.

Senior Vice President Nosherwan Khalil Khan, Vice President Hamza Saroosh and Secretary General Irfan Manan also attended the session.