KARACHI: Banks have approved loans worth Rs107.5 billion under the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) Rozgar Scheme, according to a report released by the central bank on Friday.
Of the approved amount, Rs23.5 billion is for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and small corporates, defined as businesses with an annual turnover not exceeding Rs2 billion.
The Rozgar Scheme was introduced on April 10, and provides concessional credit at 3 per cent to any business that commits to not lay off workers for three months. The SBP complemented the scheme on May 10 with a 40 per cent risk sharing facility on first loss basis from the Government of Pakistan.
Five banks together constitute more than 61 per cent share of overall approved financing amount under the risk sharing facility, with JS Bank Limited at the top with Rs3.73 billion, followed by Habib Bank financing Rs3.62 billion. Bank Al‐Habib, Bank Alfalah, and Askari Bank constitute the remaining share.
These five banks were also the top performing banks in terms of acceptance ratio. Their acceptance ratios in terms of amount stood in the range of 65 per cent to 83 per cent, while the acceptance ratios in terms of number of applications approved were between 70 per cent to 83 per cent.
From May 15 to June 12, JS Bank maintained its top position. Habib Bank moved one spot up to second position since May 29. Bank Alfalah also improved its position over Askari Bank since May 21.
The least performing banks in terms of extending financing include The Bank of Khyber with only Rs8.39 million given in financing, National Bank of Pakistan, First Women Bank, MCB Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan).
However, the five least performing banks in terms of acceptance ratio were Standard Chartered Bank, MCB Bank, National Bank of Pakistan, United Bank, and Allied Bank.
The acceptance ratios of the five least performing banks were in the range between 18 per cent to 26 per cent, while the acceptance ratios in terms of the number of applications approved fell in the range of 9 per cent to 43 per cent.
The SBP emphasised that this data only relates to credit to SMEs and small corporates, and that some banks may be lending to large corporates.
“It should also be noted that these figures focus only on lending under the Rozgar Refinancing scheme. Some banks may be more active in other forms of SME lending which would not be reflected in the figures below,” the SBP said.
