Driving the economy: Bank’s lending to SMEs should improve

SMEs are the major contributor to the country’s economy, said Bank Alfalah Ltd President

KARACHI: Banks’ lending to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) should be improved as SMEs are the major contributor to the country’s economy, said Bank Alfalah Ltd (BAFL) President and CEO Atif Aslam Bajwa. Speaking at a meeting at Korangi Association of Trade and Industry office on Tuesday, he said that SMEs contribution to the national economy should be 60% instead of 30% prevailing at present. Bajwa stressed that the banks should give priority to SME banking with a view to ensuring uninterrupted flow of financial access to the sector in the country. He informed that BAFL has recently signed the agreement with State Bank of Pakistan for the project documented under the Department for International Development (DFID) funded Financial Inclusion Programme (FIP). He said that the State Bank under the programme will provide funding support to BAFL in undertaking the International Finance Corporation SME Advisory project.

Published In The Express Tribune, June 13^th, 2012.