SBP to focus on agriculture financing, SMEs

Will address disparities due to small banking footprint in Balochistan

KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Tariq Bajwa has said agriculture financing and facilitating small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will be priority areas of the central bank.

He said this while presiding over his first meeting with presidents and chief executive officers of commercial banks at the SBP on Wednesday. Bajwa said the central bank would also address the disparities emanating due to the limited financial intermediary role and very small footprint of the banking industry in Balochistan, according to a press release.



He emphasised on the need for a regulatory body being “fair and firm” with the regulated entities and said the two themes would be the guiding principles for future interaction with the banking industry.

He told the banking sector to proactively play their role for achieving the objectives for inclusive economic growth and employment generation.

He pointed out that with the available natural resources coupled with support from the banking sector in the shape of adequate and targeted financing for small farmers, the agriculture sector offered tremendous opportunities for achieving higher economic growth.

He observed that SMEs were the backbone of the industrial sector. In Pakistan, this is a neglected sector and the SBP along with commercial banks needs to proactively work for the development of SMEs.

He expressed the commitment to promoting Islamic banking by making efforts to resolve the industry’s major issues including issuance of government Sukuk for liquidity management.



Other issues discussed in the meeting included rescheduling and restructuring of non-performing loans of the textile industry, facilitation of retail customers in the provision of foreign exchange services at bank branches, adoption of PayPak Cards, rationalisation of bank charges related to inter-bank fund transfer facility, cyber security and export/import of foreign currency notes.

The CEOs and presidents of banks shared their views on the overall economic situation, available opportunities and challenges faced by the banking industry. They stated that they were looking forward to cooperating with the SBP and federal government for the resolution of those challenges.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2017.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.