Finance minister calls for faster SME, farm loan disbursements

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has asked lenders and programme agencies to speed up credit delivery to small businesses and farmers, Profit by Pakistan Today reported. At a Wednesday meeting of the Access to Finance Steering Committee, he welcomed housing-finance progress but said more needed to be done to widen lending for SMEs and agriculture.

As of October 23, 2026, outstanding SME loans totalled Rs1.148 trillion, while agricultural credit stood at Rs1.329 trillion across about 3.5 million borrowers. Under the Zarkhez-e scheme, lenders had paid out around Rs2.34 billion in 6,132 collateral-free loans to small farmers. Housing credit was Rs455 billion, and 15,584 loans worth approximately Rs91 billion had been disbursed under the Apna Ghar Programme.

The committee also reviewed digital credit assessment, SME capacity-building and ways to ease financing for builders and agricultural businesses. Aurangzeb called for secure data sharing and timely action on agreed reforms, while participants discussed risk-sharing and improved loan recovery.