PBIF welcomes SBP’s launch of SMEConnect

Business Recorder reported that Mian Zahid Hussain, representing the Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and other business bodies, welcomed the State Bank of Pakistan’s SMEConnect launch on October 29. The digital platform is intended to route small and medium-sized enterprise financing applications, which banks must receive through the system from November 1, 2026, with branch employees helping applicants use it.

Hussain said the facility’s impact should be judged by lending actually delivered, first-time borrowers and the time needed to process applications, rather than by the platform alone. SME financing outstanding was Rs1,148 billion on October 23, 2026, while the borrower count was about 350,862 at September-end, compared with a 775,000 target by June 2028. He called for quarterly bank-level disclosures and support to help smaller firms prepare applications, alongside stronger bank procedures for decisions and disbursement.