ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed banks and financial institutions to play a proactive role in expanding access to finance for farmers, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the housing sector.
He was chairing a meeting on Access to Finance for Agriculture, Housing and SMEs in Islamabad.
The prime minister said the government would encourage banks that actively contribute to expanding access to credit, particularly for sectors vital to economic growth.
Calling agriculture the backbone of the country’s economy, he said its development was a national responsibility and directed that farmers be provided uninterrupted access to financial resources on easy terms.
Mr Shehbaz also said providing affordable housing to low- and middle-income groups was a government priority. He directed provincial chief secretaries to conduct a comprehensive survey of properties against which banks could provide loans to prospective homeowners under the Prime Minister’s Apna Ghar Scheme.
The meeting was informed that 147,504 applications had so far been received under the scheme, of which 53,127 had been approved. The approved applications were valued at Rs313.42 billion, while loans amounting to Rs45.43 billion had been disbursed to 8,739 applicants.
Officials said a system was being developed to identify plots across the country that meet mortgage requirements. The pilot project would initially be launched in Islamabad.
The meeting was further informed that bank lending to the SME sector had reached Rs1.067 trillion as of August, while the Access to Finance Plan 2026–28 had set a target of increasing SME financing to Rs2 trillion by June 2028.
