Small enterprises need workable policy

Call for making these units aware of Islamic financial products

LAHORE: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of national economy and their role is crucial for economic development. A good workable policy should be framed for these enterprises in consultation with stakeholders.

This was the upshot of speeches delivered at an SME awareness session organised by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

LCCI Senior Vice President Khawaja Khawar Rashid, Vice President Zeshan Khalil, SME Committee Convener Rehmatullah Javed, SBP Acting Chief Manager Iftikhar Ansar and other experts spoke on the occasion.



Rashid said besides preparing a roadmap, there was need to develop a market for intermediary services to SMEs which, on nominal payment, could acquire services such as technical knowhow, marketing, managerial skills, accounting, book-keeping and basic financial statement preparation.Khalil said by improving capacity and disseminating important information among relevant stakeholders, better results could be achieved.



He said the State Bank of Pakistan’s experts visited the LCCI for preparing a roadmap for the promotion of SME banking and briefed businessmen about one of the pillars of the roadmap which was capacity building and awareness creation.

Javed underlined the need for making SMEs more aware of Islamic banking products as their share in overall financing portfolio of Islamic banks was less than 5%.



He pointed out that owners and managers of a large number of SMEs had a deeper craving for Shariah-compliant financial services compared to large businesses and companies.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2018.

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