KARACHI: The Steering Committee constituted by the Ministry of Industries and Production (MoI&P) is scheduled to meet in Islamabad on December 04, 2018 under the chair of Abdul Razzak Dawood adviser to the Prime Minister Imran Khan for necessary revision of SME policy 2007.
The chief executive officer (CEO) of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) has invited the secretaries of the different ministries, Deputy governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), presidents of major chambers of commerce and industry also the Federation of Chamber of Commerce & Industry and President of Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) for a brain storming session to revisit and revise the SME policy 2007 to make it comprehensive and in line with modern concepts.
With the depreciation of rupee, the imported raw materials have become very costly and cost of production has made the SME units noncompetitive. This is a serious matter and import duties on raw and packing material having no substitute in Pakistan be exempted from duties immediately.
President UNISAME Zulfiqar Thaver regretted that SMEDA was without sufficient personnel and funds. “It needs to be strengthened to outreach SMEs all over Pakistan. Secondly the sector needs global marketing support for which a separate SME promotion export bureau is needed without loss of time”.
Thirdly a low premium export credit guarantee scheme is needed urgently to make banks comfortable in financing SMEs. Fourthly, for technical support an SME institute is essential to enable the units to modernize by adopting latest techniques of production, management, accounting, transfer of technology and training in customer care, product up gradation and international bench marks.