Daily Times

Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Muhammad Ishaq called upon the commercial banks to focus on promotion of trade industrial activities in merged tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Ishaq while talking to Regional Head of the National Bank of Pakistan, Fakhkar Zaman and Chief Manager NBP Saif ul Geer Khan Afridi during a meeting held here at the Chamber House on Tuesday said role of banking sector is vital in boosting up trade and economic activities as well as industrialisation in new industrial estates in merged tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He called for proactive measures by commercial banks for provision of all facilities to the business community and availability of loans on easy terms and conditions to promote small and medium and large-scale business and industries in the province.

The SCCI vice president Ejaz Khan Afridi and Secretary General of the chamber Sajjad Aziz also present during the meeting. Ishaq apprised the government is taking measures for promotion of economic, trade and industrial activities in merged districts of KP. He, however, stressed that commercial banks should provide facilities to investors under one-window operation in tribal and settled areas of the province.

The chamber president emphasized the need for pragmatic steps for putting on modern lines to operations, administration, besides bringing behavior/attitude improvement of staff of the commercial banks to restore trust of consumers/clients and improve the image of the bank as well. Ishaq informed that as result of vigorous efforts of a leading businessman from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senator Mohsin Aziz, the Senate of Pakistan passed State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021, saying that legislation would to rectify unjustified and inequitable credit lending that has been the long-standing demand of the smaller provinces.

Before passage of the bill the loan disbursement by commercial banks against deposits from KP and Balochistan was 1.35% only, which after the passage of bill will increase to about 5%. This will help trigger trade and industrial activities in in both provinces, SCCI chief told the meeting. He asked the National Bank of Pakistan to focus on corporate and Islamic banking and be proactive to upgrade the bank on modern lines. He furthermore demanded that NBP should provide all facilities to consumers, especially commercial clients at optimal level.

Fakhar Zaman, NBP regional head said the bank is taking measures for upgrading its standards and providing facilities to consumers as per their needs, saying that the bank is gaining rapid progress through these initiatives. The regional head informed training sessions conducted for consumers under the National Financial Education Programme. He assured that NBP services will be available all the time for arranging financial awareness sessions, seminars and training workshops.