Shehbaz Sharif said SMEDA roadmap was satisfactory but called for time-bound implementation plan with clear achievable industrial growth targets defined
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif chaired a high-level review meeting in Islamabad on government initiatives aimed at strengthening the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector, as officials assessed progress on directives issued to the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA).
During the meeting, the prime minister said SMEs held considerable untapped potential for driving economic growth and expanding export capacity, describing them as a central pillar in efforts to stabilize and diversify the national economy. He noted that Special Assistant Haroon Akhtar, alongside SMEDA teams, was working on an urgent basis to improve access to financing, support business formalization, and expand digital lending mechanisms for small enterprises.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the roadmap prepared by SMEDA and the Ministry of Industries was broadly satisfactory, but stressed the need for a clearer implementation framework with measurable targets and defined timelines. He also called on commercial banks to take more proactive steps to ease credit access for small businesses, arguing that restrictive lending practices continued to limit SME growth potential.
He further emphasized that agricultural processing industries should be formally included within the SME category, while also praising measures aimed at increasing women’s participation in the sector. He urged authorities to strengthen targeted support systems to improve women’s access to credit and enhance their ability to export goods to international markets.
Officials briefed the meeting that SMEDA was currently implementing 48 policy measures across eight strategic sectors in line with the prime minister’s directives, with phased development targets set for the next two to four years. Updates were also shared on efforts to expand market access through trade exhibitions and roadshows, improve value chains through vendor profiling, and build a comprehensive SME database to support formalization.
The State Bank of Pakistan governor informed the meeting that private sector lending had reached 1.1 trillion rupees in the last fiscal year, with SME financing rising by 28 per cent. He added that the SME lending target had been revised upward to 1.5 trillion rupees by fiscal year 2028, alongside the introduction of additional measures to encourage commercial banks to expand lending.
A dedicated export financing window for SMEs was also reported to be operational, benefiting dozens of small enterprises so far. The meeting was attended by senior federal ministers, the State Bank governor, SMEDA leadership and other officials, reflecting what government described as a coordinated push to accelerate SME-led economic growth and strengthen export-oriented development.
