Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a pivotal role in Pakistan’s economy, serving as an essential part of the supply chain for key export industries such as textiles, food processing, and engineering. This was stated by Mian Kashif Ashfaq, Chief Executive Officer of the Pakistan Furniture Council (PFC), during a discussion with a delegation of industrialists led by Muhammad Farhan Munir Arain, Coordinator to the Federal Tax Ombudsman, here on Sunday.
He highlighted that manufacturing-based SMEs currently receive only 5.3 percent of the banking sector’s lending to the entire manufacturing industry and a nominal 11.5 percent in the construction sector. He emphasized the need to significantly increase these figures to enhance exports and productivity in line with global standards, as seen in the USA and other Western countries. He further pointed out that manufacturing and construction were Pakistan’s two largest employment-generating sectors, underscoring their critical role in economic development.
Mian Kashif Ashfaq stressed that while the expansion of e-commerce and IT-enabled services (IT-ES) offers new opportunities, sustainable economic growth can only be achieved if the manufacturing sector grows simultaneously. Promoting manufacturing-based SMEs was vital for this growth. He warned that if this was not prioritized, the manufacturing sector might shift toward trading, leaving a significant gap in the supply chain of key industries.
He also called for SMEs to adopt advanced technology to improve product quality and compete in global markets on par with international standards.
Citing SMEDA, he noted that SMEs contribute 40 percent to Pakistan’s GDP and 25 percent to export revenues, a figure that must be increased to match the success stories of countries like France, Italy, Japan, China, and the UK.—APP
