State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad said that financing to women entrepreneurs reached Rs230 billion over the past year, with 974,000 loans disbursed between November 2024 and October 2025, but the portfolio remains heavily concentrated in microfinance.
Speaking at an event marking Pakistan Women Entrepreneurship Day, he said the data shows strong outreach but limited progress in helping women transition into larger-scale ventures.
Ahmad noted that “nearly 93% of these loans, amounting to Rs113 billion, fall under microfinance,” indicating that women borrowers continue to be clustered in entry-level and small-ticket segments. At the upper end of the market, he said only 611 women-led corporate and commercial enterprises secured financing of Rs58 billion, representing just 1% of all loans provided by commercial banks, a reflection of continuing structural and cultural barriers.
The governor said Pakistan has made progress in expanding women’s access to financial services. Women’s financial inclusion has increased from 4%to 52%, and the gender gap has narrowed from 47% in 2018 to 30% in 2025. More than 17.6 million women-owned bank accounts have been added since 2021, showing deeper engagement with the financial system.
Ahmad said the SBP’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2024–28 aims to raise overall financial inclusion to 75% and reduce the gender gap to 25% by 2028. He cited support from the Asian Development Bank’s Women Inclusive Finance Programme and Challenge Fund initiatives, which are helping finance women-led businesses and improve their market access.
He acknowledged the contribution of the banking industry, saying more than 14,600 women have joined the sector in the past three years, raising female representation from 13% to 17%. Banks now have women on their boards, established diversity councils and deployed women-specific finance teams, which he said will help encourage more women to participate in the formal economy.
While acknowledging the progress achieved, the governor said significant gaps remain, particularly in enabling more women to enter and stay in the labour force. He pointed to the need for reliable transport, flexible work hours and daycare facilities, saying these are “crucial services that many women count on so that they do not have to choose between their careers and their families.”
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the event, the governor also highlighted broader macroeconomic improvements, stating that Pakistan’s external debt-to-GDP ratio had fallen to 26% in FY25 from 31% two years earlier, driven by higher inflows of workers’ remittances. He said the country’s foreign debt has remained stagnant for the past three years at June 2022 level, countering assumptions of a sharp increase.
