KARACHI:
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday launched a new project to conduct a survey of 10 important small and medium enterprise (SME) clusters in the country.
In an announcement, the SBP said the objective of this project was to provide a credible information base on key SME clusters and sub-sectors of economic importance.
Funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), UK, the project will develop key drivers of business of important SME sub-sectors located in various cities across the country.
The clusters selected for the survey include cotton ginning, marble and marble products, plastic products, hand-made carpet manufacturing, leather products, dry-cleaning and laundry services, beauty parlors and Spa, super markets and retail shops, printing press and gem and jewellery.
Corporate Development Partners (Private) Limited will conduct the survey which will be completed in four months.
“This is an important project as availability of reliable and comprehensive data on SMEs plays a critical role in the development of the sector, helping relevant stakeholders in devising effective sector-specific business strategies,” the SBP said.
The central bank hoped that the project would specially help banks in targeting the selected SME clusters through appropriate banking products and marketing and distribution strategies.
Recently, the SBP, in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Lahore University of Management Sciences, has completed similar projects on 11 other important SME clusters. It has placed the survey reports of these clusters on its website for public information.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 7th, 2012.
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