PESHAWAR: The Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has urged commercial banks to simplify the procedures to apply for a bank loan and further reduce the interest on loans for the development of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sector.
The demand was made by SCCI President Sherbaz Bilour during a meeting with the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Peshawar region team led by the SCCI Regional Executive Business Vice President Waqar Ahmad here on Thursday. SMEs Vice President Asif Naeem, SMEs Marketing and Recovery Manager Muhammad Muez Afridi and SME Information Officer Muhammad Taimur were present in the meeting.
Bilour underlined that traders face enormous difficulties in obtaining loans from commercial banks because of the cumbersome and lengthy procedure, and called for simplifying the issuance process.
“Besides ensuring the provision of soft loans for businesses affected by coronavirus lockdowns, the banking system should also be streamlined by using modern technology for everyone’s facilitation,” he further suggested.
The SCCI chief emphasised that the government should offer special incentives and loan schemes to attract new investment to promote industrialisation in the province to create employment opportunities and stabilise the local economy.
Bilour said the chamber’s topmost priority is to attract investment in the province.
Further, the NBP team apprised the SCCI president regarding the Prime Minister Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme in detail and urged the business community to benefit from the scheme and other soft loans programmes to expand their businesses.
