DELAYED SME POLICY CAUSING SETBACK TO SECTOR

The Union of Small and medium Enterprises (UNISAME) has invited the attention of the prime minister (PM) Imran Khan to the long delay in the finalization of the SME policy and urged him to direct the policy makers to complete it and submit the policy document to him immediately.
UNISAME president Zulfikar Thaver said the Ministry of Industries and Production (MoI&P) and the Small and medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) have again invited key stakeholders on 13 September 2021 to discuss the SME policy, incentives/facilitation as part of the SME policy being finalized.
Thaver said what we fail to understand is , why the finalization is taking years. Time and again the stakeholders are invited to discuss the same issues again and again. It seems the MoI&P and SMEDA are gaining time due to lack of firm promise of financial support from the ministry of finance.
Apparently the SME policy is complete and it appears to be comprehensive and as such is the modified version of the SME policy made by experts in 2007.
Thaver reiterated that the sector needs priority, access to affordable finance, sufficient and affordable energy, technical and marketing support, ease of doing business and reduction in cost of doing business and good governance. Additional requirements are an SME gallery, Institute, Ombudsman and SME economic zones/industrial estates and Credit Guarantee Insurance schemes and it is believed that all these have been identified and incorporated in the draft policy document.
These matters are well known to the bureaucracy and are on their finger tips yet it is taking years and years to finalize the SME policy which is surely no rocket science.
It is high time the government realizes that the delay is causing setback to the majority sector which is undoubtedly the backbone of the economy.
UNISAME council has urged the PM to direct the MoI&P to finalize the SME policy and ascertain that all the reasonable demands of the sector are met and the policy ensures uplift of the underprivileged sector.

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