FPCCI president Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo has hailed the concerted efforts of Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Federal Minister for Industries and Production, for launching long-overdue SME Policy of Pakistan. The SME Policy has been in the making for many years now and the process, unfortunately, got deferred many times over, he added. Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo said that financing is the lifeline for SMEs and the SBP’s current SAAF Scheme has allowed a banking spread of 8pc to commercial banks; on top of 1pc refinancing rate of SBP; which makes it 9pc for the SMEs. That much cost of capital is unaffordable, unproductive, and unfeasible. FPCCI has proposed an interest rate of 3pc for SMEs to make it viable for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo has demanded that the government should update the definitions of Micro, Small and Medium-sized organizations and make it MSMEs on the lines of current best practices internationally; for devising preferential treatment protocols based on peculiar ground realities of Pakistan. MSMEs are the engines of growth and employment generation, he added.