Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed the government to launch a dedicated digital portal for small and medium enterprises by the end of November 2026, providing businesses with real-time access to information on bank lending, including the status of letters of credit and other banking facilities, in a move designed to reduce the information asymmetry and procedural friction that has historically limited smaller businesses from fully utilising available credit. The directive was issued at a review meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, which also called for the removal of obstacles to lending across the small business, housing, and agriculture sectors, with officials briefed on current performance across all three credit verticals and revised targets set for the year ahead.
On the small and medium enterprise front, the meeting was informed that Pakistani Rupees 1,137 billion in loans had been disbursed so far to approximately 350,000 businesses, a figure that while significant still falls well short of the scale at which the sector, which constitutes over 80 percent of Pakistan’s industrial base, could be contributing to economic output if access to formal credit were more widely available. The government has set a target of raising small and medium enterprise lending to Pakistani Rupees 1,500 billion and expanding the number of businesses with active borrowing relationships to 565,000 by June 2027. The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority was directed to focus on building the capacity of small businesses, facilitating the adoption of modern technology, improving productivity, and creating pathways for smaller firms to integrate into global value chains rather than remaining confined to domestic markets.
In the housing sector, the government’s Apna Ghar Scheme has approved 71,690 loans worth Pakistani Rupees 426 billion, with Pakistani Rupees 76 billion disbursed to 13,214 borrowers to date. The annual target for housing finance has been set at Pakistani Rupees 700 billion for 125,000 residential units, and Prime Minister Shehbaz praised the National Bank of Pakistan for approving 76 percent of housing finance applications while directing the bank’s newly appointed president to improve overall institutional performance through the hiring of qualified professionals. He also directed provincial governments to accelerate land record digitisation following the model established by Punjab, noting that digitised land records make it considerably easier for banks to process mortgage and housing loan applications and improve the transparency of property ownership verification. Agricultural lending stands at Pakistani Rupees 1,352 billion benefiting 3.455 million people, with targets set to raise that figure to Pakistani Rupees 1,500 billion and expand the beneficiary base to 4.5 million by June 2027.
Among the additional measures under consideration to support the credit expansion agenda are shared risk arrangements for lending, supply chain financing models, verified data sharing between institutions, and digital systems that would allow individuals seeking small loans to complete the application process without repeated visits to bank branches, a friction point that disproportionately affects smaller borrowers in areas with limited banking infrastructure. The meeting was attended by Federal Ministers Rana Tanveer Hussain, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Riaz Pirzada, and Attaullah Tarar, Prime Minister Adviser Haroon Akhtar, State Bank of Pakistan Governor Jameel Ahmad, and other senior officials, reflecting the cross-ministerial scope of a credit expansion agenda that touches industry policy, housing, agriculture, and financial sector regulation simultaneously.
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