Housing finance doubles to Rs279b
Housing finance under the Wazir-e-Azam Apna Ghar Programme has surged, with approved financing nearly doubling from Rs144 billion to Rs279 billion since June, as the government pushes to expand access to finance across priority sectors, according to a statement from the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday.
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb chaired a meeting of the Access to Finance Steering Committee, which reviewed progress on initiatives across housing, agriculture, SMEs, exports, information technology and renewable energy.
The committee noted that total housing finance increased from around Rs294 billion at end-June to Rs307 billion by mid-August. Applications under the housing programme rose 52% to nearly 139,000, approvals increased 84% to over 46,000, and loans disbursed rose 59% to over 7,600.
The momentum is being supported by a strengthened legal and regulatory framework, including the State Bank of Pakistan's (SBP) revised Prudential Regulations for Housing Finance and the passage of the Financial Institutions (Recovery of Finances) (Amendment) Act, 2026 (FIRA), which strengthens the legal framework for recovery and enforcement of mortgage-based lending.
On agriculture, borrowers increased from around 3.26 million at end-June to 3.37 million by mid-August, while financing remained around Rs1.26 trillion. Under the Zarkhez-e-Asaan Zarai Qarza scheme, more than 58,000 farmers have registered, with bank approvals rising 12% to nearly 16,700 and loans disbursed increasing 13% to nearly 5,000.
SME formal financing stood at around Rs1.05 trillion, covering approximately 330,000 businesses. The committee reviewed an ongoing credit-scoring pilot across 13 banks aimed at improving credit assessment through proxy and alternative methods.
The medium-term ambition is to expand agriculture and SME financing to Rs1.5 trillion by June 2027 and Rs2 trillion by June 2028.
The committee also reviewed progress on the Pakistan Accelerated Vehicle Electrification (PAVE) Programme, with more than 83,000 applications received, around 15,800 approved and nearly 4,000 loans disbursed by mid-August.
Aurangzeb emphasised that access to finance should increasingly operate as an integrated economic-enablement framework, combining legal and regulatory reforms, digitalisation, better credit assessment and performance-based incentives.
Separately, German Ambassador Ina Lepel called on the finance minister and extended felicitation on Pakistan's recent sovereign credit rating upgrade by Moody's, noting that the improved rating reflected greater confidence in Pakistan's economic outlook and reform efforts.