LAHORE - Government is making efforts to provide a level playing field to SMEs by devising business friendly policies and an effective mechanism for easy access to finance, said Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Federal Minister Industries and Production while addressing a webinar organised by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) on Friday in connection with the “World SME Day”. Kamran Ali Afzal, Federal Secretary MOIP, and Dr Reza Baqir, Governor State Bank of Pakistan also addressed the webinar.
Khusro Bakhtiar informed that development of SME sector is included in the top most economic agenda of present government. “That is the reason that Prime Minister gave special preference to the survival of SMEs during lockdown last year and launched several programs to protect SMEs that included Mazdoor ka Ehssas Program, PM’s Small Business and Industry Relief Package Chota Karobar Imdadi Package Pre-paid Electricity, and construction sector package”, he said.
He said that the government is fully cognizant to the problems of SMEs. That is why a country with a total budget outlay of Rs. 7.29 trillion had announced a package worth 16.5% of its budget for COVID-19 measures, he said, adding that around Rs. 12 billion had further been allocated in the current fiscal budget for risk sharing and collateral free lending to SMEs coupled with multiple initiatives for development of skills and technology in the SME sector.
He further informed that the Prime Minister had approved National SME Policy Action Plan 2020 to provide much needed support to SMEs. The National SME Policy Action Plan 2020 includes initiatives on simplification of rules & regulations, specialized SME taxation regime, programs for SME access to credit, SME quota in public procurement, simplification of SECP procedures and facilitation for participation of SMEs in international fairs and exhibitions on subsidized rates, he added.
The minister appreciated SMEDA for playing pivotal role in developing viable plans with strong transparency for support of SMEs to mitigate the devastating effects of Corona. He also appreciated the efforts of entrepreneurs who quickly adapted to the change and provided much needed support to the economy in odd timings of Pandemic.
Dr. Reza Baqir said that increasing credit ratio to SMEs, through an easy access to finance mechanism, is the main agenda of the SBP at present that is being translated into a collateral-free credit scheme through mutual cooperation of the government. The formal announcement of the scheme will soon be made with all details and procedures, he added. Referring to the lockdown time last year, Dr. Reza Baqir said that several support initiatives; including deferment of payment on loan obligation for one year, reduction of margin call requirements against bank financing from 30% to 20% and relaxation of credit requirements for exporters & importers; were introduced.
Earlier, CEO SMEDA said that the World SME Day is celebrated every year on 27th June to highlight the incentives provided by independent states to their SMEs. This year the theme of incentives revolves around the facilities provided by governments for survival of SMEs in global catastrophe of Covid-19.
 This is encouraging that as per a survey of Asian Development Bank Institute and Asian Productivity Organization, Pakistan has been ranked 3rd among the countries, who provided the best support services to their SMEs for surviving in the peak time of catastrophe, he said and referred to the electricity relief package titled ‘Prime Minister’s Relief Package for Small Businesses & Industries’ and Mazdoor ka Ehssas Program, which proved to be very supportive to the SMEs in restarting the redundant operation of their units.