FAISALABAD

MUHAMMAD TAHIR

Documentation should be minimized for SME sector to fully exploit from the Refinance Scheme of State Bank of Pakistan and in this connection a Committee headed by Dr. Anayat Hussain Executive Director has been constituted, said Mr. Reza Baqir Governor SBP.

He was talking to  President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) Rana Muhammad Sikandar Azam Khan

in an Meeting here Syed Samar Hussain Executive Director, Muhammad Abid and Ashraf Khan Managing Director Banking Services Corporation were also present during this meeting.

Governor said that the committee will review the entire system to identify the documents which could be skipped. He directed the committee to start work on an immediate basis so that viable suggestions could be presented as early as possible. Regarding banking hours, he said that circular has been issued and all commercial banks will work from 9.AM to 5.30PM from Monday to Friday. ‘’It will not only lessen burden on banks but also facilitate the people’’, he added.

Governor also announced a separate committee headed by Chief Manager SBP Faisalabad. “It will have President FCCI in addition to other elected office bearers of the local trade bodies”, he told and added that this committee will hold its meeting every month and decide problems of local nature there and then. Governor said that yet another Committee will also be constituted to discuss the possible impacts of corona on sick units. “A separate meeting will also be arranged with the owners of these sick units’’, he assured.

Earlier Rana Muhammad Sikandar Azam Khan President FCCI welcomed the incentive package after corona lockdown. He thanked Mr. Reza Baqir for having direct contacts with the stakeholders to resolve their genuine issues. He was also appreciative of his continuous follow up to pass on the benefits of this scheme to the needy segments. “In this connection Chief Manager State Bank Faisalabad has been nominated a focal person to resolve any bottleneck’’, he added.

Regarding sick units, he said that these units were just preparing to restart their operation when

the corona lockdown foiled their sincere efforts. He said that banks should reschedule their loans under the incentive package of SBP. “It will not only help them to create new job opportunities but also contribute their role in national exports” he added.

 Rana Sikandar also thanked Governor SBP for setting up a dedicated Help Desk at FCCI and told that extensive publicity has been made so that maximum people could avail from the incentive package of SBP. FCCI has also written letters to the all elected office bearers of major Trade Associations with a request to convince their members to avail form this Help Desk. President FCCI further made it clear that the Government should focus on filers instead of facilitating the non-filers. “It is necessary to achieve the ultimate objective of the documentation of economy’’, he added. He also thanked SBP for trimming the policy rate to 7% but added the banking spread is so high that it has practically nullified the benefits of Incentive Package. He said being regulator SBP should also fix the maximum ratio of banking spread. He also stressed the need to empower regions to sanction loans and in this connection a committee headed by Chief Manager SBP could also be constituted.