Accelerating financial inclusion through microfinance stressed

Islamabad : The Pakistan Microfinance Investment Company (PMIC) and the Pakistan Microfinance Network (PMN) hosted a microfinance conference on accelerating financial inclusion through microfinance here.

Representatives of the PMIC, PMN, DFID, SECP and the SBP addressed the conference.

Chairman of the PMIC Naveed A Khan highlighted the need for deepening customer engagement and digitising the whole range of financial services.

He also shed light on ways to enhance bankability through the creation of economic sectors/clusters and aggregation of micro and small businesses in each cluster where after linkages need to be created through digital marketplaces.

He also emphasized PMIC’s role as the apex institution and sector developer and partner in government’s agenda of financial inclusion and poverty alleviation with the aim to accelerate Pakistan’s progress towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030.

Naveed A Khan reiterated the PMIC’s focus on capacity building the institutions in the sector and working in a collaborative approach towards development of new instruments and focus on the implementation of need-based microfinance plus initiatives that benefit women and rural communities in the country.

Chairman of the PMN Syed Nadeem Hussain emphasized on the need for concessionary loan schemes for beneficiaries of the social safety net programs, establishment of government-led digital infrastructure for provision of financial services, microfinance sector’s support for the government’s ‘Sehat Insaf’ initiative and creation of a Disaster Risk Fund with the aim to promote agriculture finance.

The conference was attended by key stakeholders of the sector- the regulators, microfinance providers, commercial banks, Digital Financial Service providers, FinTechs, insurance companies, corporate entities, donor agencies, policy makers, development agencies, Government representatives and microfinance beneficiaries.

The participants expressed commitment to identifying areas of collaboration and to build synergies to enhance financial inclusion in the country by undertaking a systematic analysis of the growth drivers that may have a direct or indirect influence on the microfinance industry.