Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, chaired the fourth meeting of the Access to Finance Steering Committee at the Finance Division on Wednesday, reviewing progress on inclusive finance across priority sectors, including SMEs, agriculture, information technology (IT), exports, renewable energy and housing.
The committee reviewed the latest position of SME financing and was informed that by the end of August 2026, SME finance stood at Rs1.067 trillion, serving 323,987 borrowers and accounting for 9.90 percent of domestic private advances. The medium-term aspiration is to expand SME financing to Rs2 trillion and increase the number of borrowers to 775,000 by June 2028, raising its share to 13 percent.
The forum also reviewed agriculture finance, which reached Rs1.268 trillion by the end of August 2026, covering 3,392,092 borrowers and representing 10.90 percent of domestic private advances. The medium-term target is to increase agriculture finance to Rs2 trillion and expand the borrower base to 5.5 million by June 2028. A briefing on the progress of 'Zarkhez-e-Asaan Zarai Qarza' - designed to provide uncollateralised financing to smallholder farmers, including tenant farmers - revealed that 58,919 farmers had registered under the programme, with 35,838 applications received.
On housing finance, the committee noted significant momentum under the 'Wazir-e-Azam Apna Ghar Programme - Ghar Ho To Apna', which provides affordable housing finance for tenors of up to 20 years, with a fixed 5 percent rate for the first 10 years. By September 4, 2026, approved housing finance under the programme had reached Rs351.3 billion, a notable increase of Rs38.3 billion since end-August - representing a 12 percent rise in less than one week.
The meeting also reviewed progress under the Pakistan Accelerated Vehicle Electrification (PAVE) Programme. With 17 participating banks, the programme had recorded 17,118 approved applications involving Rs2.581 billion, while 4,228 loans amounting to Rs804 million had been disbursed. Aurangzeb highlighted the importance of practical support in areas such as financial management, documentation and cash-flow visibility to enable businesses to engage more effectively with formal financial institutions.