Outstanding SME loans hit Rs1.137tr

Islamabad - The government's Access to Finance Steering Committee held its fifth meeting, emphasizing the need for improved data availability and information-sharing to support responsible lending and better risk assessment. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb highlighted data gaps, which hamper decision-making, particularly in the housing, SMEs, agriculture, and electric vehicles sectors. During July-September quarter 2026-27, these sectors received approximately Rs222 billion in financing.

In his official statement, Aurangzeb stressed the importance of using data with appropriate safeguards and clear purpose limitations while ensuring financial institutions have access to the necessary information to assess borrowers and expand cash-flow-based lending. He directed the committee's focus towards implementation, measurable outcomes, and follow-up actions, with progress on sub-committees' decisions and recommendations to be systematically tracked.

According to the meeting's findings, outstanding SME loans rose by Rs23 billion to Rs1.137 trillion in the first quarter of FY27, and the number of borrowers increased by over 25,000 to around 350,862. The minister called for further acceleration to meet the government's medium-term objective of expanding SME financing to Rs2 trillion and increasing the number of borrowers to 775,000 by June 30, 2028.

This would be achieved through an ecosystem-wide approach, collaborating with commercial banks, microfinance institutions, and other financial service providers.