‘Obstacles in SMEs bank’s financing’

KARACHI: Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, Chairman FPCCI Standing Committee on Banking, Credit and Finance, represented the FPCCI at the 70th year’s celebration of the State Bank of Pakistan.

The session was attended by Tariq Bajwa, Governor State Bank, Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar, Dr Ishrat Hussain, Yasin Anwar and Ashraf Mahmood Wathra, former SBP Governors, president of the banks for sharing their views on the future vision of SBP and Governor Sindh Muhammad Zubair.

Dr Baig raised the issue regarding obstacles in the SMEs bank’s financing, saying the banks were not following prudential regulations of the SBP for SMEs financing based on cash flow lending instead insisted on mortgage financing at very high mark-up.

He also pointed out that the main objectives of the SBP’s monitory policy were to contain inflation and to boost the growth. He further said that the SBP has been successful in containing the inflation but not been able to achieve high GDP growth rate of 6 to 7 percent. All the panelists emphasised the need for SMEs growth for new job creation and higher growth.