Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has emphasized that timely provision of loans to agriculture, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the housing sector is vital for boosting the national economy.

He was chairing a high-level meeting on access to finance for agriculture, housing and SME sectors in Islamabad today.

The Prime Minister appreciated banks actively participating in loan disbursement for these priority national development sectors.

He urged underperforming banks to improve their output to gain government recognition.

The Prime Minister directed the relevant ministries, secretaries and the State Bank of Pakistan to complete consultations with relevant stakeholders in SMEs, agriculture and housing finance by the end of this month and present recommendations to make ongoing schemes more effective and result-oriented.

Shehbaz Sharif directed that inactive PASSCO warehouses and silos be operated under public-private partnerships.

He said the capacity to safely store farmers' produce in these warehouses and silos should be increased in collaboration with the private sector.

The Prime Minister appreciated Allied Bank's model of establishing commodity storage warehouses and providing loans to farmers against their stored produce. He directed that this model be expanded with private sector participation.

He also commended Allied Bank's investment project for the proposed SME Park.

To facilitate applicants under the Prime Minister's Apna Ghar Housing Scheme, the Prime Minister directed authorities to further simplify documentation requirements, particularly easing the acquisition of unencumbered title deeds.

He directed that recommendations of the committee on developers' finance be finalized and presented as soon as possible.

Data regarding the provision of loans to the housing and agricultural sectors, as well as to small and medium-sized enterprises, was presented in the meeting.

The meeting was briefed that banks are enhancing institutional capacity for all three priority sectors.

It was informed that work is underway to promote developer finance and a committee has been constituted in this regard.

The meeting was briefed that under the Prime Minister's Apna Ghar Scheme, 75,198 loans worth 448 billion rupees have been approved so far, with 76 billion rupees already disbursed to 14,000 beneficiaries.

It was informed that a target of 700 billion rupees in financing for 125,000 housing units has been set for the current year.

Furthermore, processing time for housing finance applications has been reduced to 15 business days, while the number of required documents has been slashed from 25 to five.

Regarding loans in the agriculture sector, it was informed that the total volume of agricultural loans stands at 1,352 billion rupees, benefiting over 3.45 million individuals.

The meeting was briefed that the target for agricultural loans by June 2027 has been set at 1,500 billion rupees and the number of beneficiaries at 4.5 million.

Similarly, over 352,000 businessmen belonging to the SME sector have been disbursed loans amounting to 1,137 billion rupees, with a target to expand total credit to 1,500 billion rupees for 575,000 business institutions by June 2027.

It was informed that measures are being taken to further simplify and enhance the effectiveness of revised regulations for SMEs and housing finance procedures.

The meeting was also briefed on joint risk-sharing in the provision of loans, promotion of supply chain financing, authentic data sharing and other ongoing measures.