ISLAMABAD: FPCCCI President Ghazanfar Bilour said that we are devoted to promoting the economic and social empowerment of women.

Woman are capable enough elevate to themselves out of poverty to play an important role in the national development while the government needs to expedite the women empowerment initiatives, he said.

Speaking at a seminar jointly organised by the Islamabad Women's Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IWCCI), and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) regarding relaxations designed for the women entrepreneurs, he said that women can become powerful agents of transformation.

They can be great contributing members of society by elevating the capacity and productivity of their communities, he added.

Ghazanfar Bilour said that empowering women and achieving gender equality is key to driving economies and reducing feminized poverty.

Addressing the audience, President IWCCI Reem Abbasi and former VP FPCCI Naima Ansari said that federal and provincial government has taken some steps leaving a lot to be desired.

“We stand for the rights of girls and women to create a better future for all of us by supporting women in business,” they added.

Reem Abbasi noted that banks consider lending to women and SMEs risky and they lack skills to deal with the both which has made financing a big for businesswomen.

At the occasion, the Assistant Chief Manager of SBP Rabia Yaqoob Khan said that we have planned to give gender-based targets to the banks soon while businesswomen would be provided cheap loans.

Banks would be directed to increase lending to SMEs and accept movable assets as collateral. She said that SME leading would be improved substantially as the level of non-performing loans has reduced by almost a half.

She said that the credit rating of a bank will be linked to the lending to the SMEs while the time of documentation will be halved while the policy of gender-based loans is being implemented which will help speed up empowerment of women.