MULTAN, June 28th: Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the country’s economy as 60percent population is based in rural areas and is contributing in the development of the country, President of Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) said on Friday while exchanging views with bank officers of National Bank of Pakistan. He threw light on the problems confronted by the SMEs in getting loans from the banks. SMEs constitute nearly 90% of all the enterprises in Pakistan; employ 80% of the non-agricultural labor force; and their share in the annual GDP is 40%, approximately.In a country like Pakistan where more than 60% of the population is rural based it is very important to enhance the capacities of rural centric SMEs to help them scale and contribute to the overall economic growth.He further said that unlike large enterprises in the formal sector, a small and medium enterprise is constrained by financial and other resources. MCCI strongly believes that SME sector is the backbone of any economy.He said it is important that modern concepts are adopted and appreciated the role of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in introducing a number of schemes for financing and collateral management. Sa'il Abbas Regional Executive (Business) of NBP said that more than Rs. 200 million are availablwe for SMEs and a representative was appointed in each branch to facilitate and guide the loan seeking SMEs. He further said that debt seeker would attain training in the NBP's college to run his business.He said that business and trade was impossible without financial support of banks. The meeting was also attended by Khawaja Muhammad Yousaf, Mian Rashid Iqbal, Sheikh Fazal Elahi, Bakhsh Elahi, Khawaja Nadeem Shehzad, Khawaja Mansoor Ahmed, Khurram Javed Butt, Director Staff college Sultan Mehmood, SME head Suhail Rasul, Relationship manager Ashfaq Ahmed and Zahid Mehboob. They stressed the need fior the use of modern technology, focusing on developing and enhancing the capacities of SMEs, create their innovative linkages and partnership for improved sustainable economic environment in Pakistan. Bankers while appreciating the role of Multan Chamber for creating awareness, identifying the impediments and suggesting remedies said NBP is already financing the requirements of the sector and invited the SMEs to come to NBP with their requirements for finance and assured prompt support for all viable applications.
