PM Shehbaz orders action plan to boost gemstone exports

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Premier seeks better access to housing, agricultural and SME loans

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed on Wednesday displeasure over delays in a pilot project to explore, cut and polish gemstones and export them after value addition, ordering officials to submit a comprehensive action plan by next week.

Chairing a meeting in Islamabad to review the development of the gemstones and jewellery sector and measures to increase exports, the prime minister said that delays in developing the sector would not be tolerated. He directed that the relevant authorities to prepare a time-bound plan on a priority basis.

He called for a complete system covering gemstone mining, cutting, polishing and value addition, saying poor mining practices and smuggling caused annual losses worth billions of dollars.

The prime minister said that Pakistan had abundant natural resources and directed officials to take priority measures to increase exports of gemstones and minerals. He also called for the development of ‘Brand Pakistan’ for gemstones and jewellery, following the example of other countries in the region.

He ordered the early establishment of Centres of Excellence for value addition and directed officials to remove all obstacles to the completion of pilot projects and the construction of model gemstone mines.

The meeting was informed that 4.8 kanals of land had been transferred for a Centre of Excellence in Hussainabad, Skardu. Funding was available, and construction was expected to begin soon. Land had also been identified in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Islamabad. The centre in Islamabad would begin operating at an alternative location until its permanent building was completed.

The officials said that geological mapping of identified areas had been completed. Eight new blocks in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) had been identified for further exploration of gemstones.

The meeting was also informed that Rs1 billion had been allocated for the sector under the Public Sector Development Programme for the current financial year. Export Facilitation Desks had been established at 80 branches of 10 banks in seven cities to assist exporters.

The prime minister directed the relevant authorities to submit a comprehensive action plan next week covering the establishment of Centres of Excellence and further measures to develop the sector.

Federal Ministers Jam Kamal Khan, Dr Musadiq Masood Malik, Ahad Khan Cheema, Ahsan Iqbal, Attaullah Tarar and Ali Pervaiz Malik attended the meeting, along with Prime Minister’s Adviser Haroon Akhtar, Minister of State Bilal Azhar Kayani and senior officials.

Separately, PM Shehbaz has directed relevant ministries, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and other stakeholders to improve access to loans for housing, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and agriculture, stressing that timely financing for these sectors is essential to economic growth.

Chairing a high-level meeting in Islamabad, the prime minister called on banks with unsatisfactory performance to improve their lending so that they could also benefit from government incentives. He praised the banks that were actively supporting the three priority sectors.

He directed the relevant authorities to consult stakeholders in housing, agriculture and SME finance and submit recommendations by the end of this month to make existing schemes more effective.

The prime minister also ordered that inactive Passco warehouses and silos be operated under public-private partnerships to increase storage capacity and ensure the safe storage of agricultural produce. He praised Allied Bank’s model of establishing grain storage warehouses and providing loans to farmers against stored produce, directing officials to expand the model with private-sector participation.

He also welcomed Allied Bank’s proposed investment plan for an SME park.

Regarding the Apna Ghar housing scheme, the prime minister directed officials to simplify the application process for prospective beneficiaries and make it easier to obtain clear property title deeds for housing finance. He also called for the recommendations of the committee on developer finance to be finalised and submitted without delay.

The meeting was briefed on lending figures for housing, agriculture and SMEs. Officials said banks were strengthening their institutional capacity to support all three sectors, while work on promoting developer finance was under way through a dedicated committee.

Under the Apna Ghar scheme, 75,198 loans worth Rs448 billion had been approved, while Rs76 billion had been disbursed to 14,000 people. The target for the current year was to provide Rs700 billion in loans for 125,000 housing units.

Officials said the processing time for housing finance applications had been reduced to 15 working days, while the number of required documents had been cut from 25 to five.

Agricultural lending totalled Rs1,352 billion, benefiting 3.455 million people. By June 2027, the target is to raise agricultural lending to Rs1,500 billion and increase the number of beneficiaries to 4.5 million.

More than 352,000 SME operators had received loans worth Rs1,137 billion. The target by June 2027 is to increase SME lending to Rs1,500 billion and the number of borrowing businesses to 575,000.

The meeting was also briefed on revised SME regulations, measures to simplify housing finance procedures, shared risk arrangements for lending, supply chain financing and improved data sharing.

Federal Ministers Rana Tanveer Hussain, Dr Musadiq Masood Malik, Attaullah Tarar, Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Ahad Khan Cheema and Shaza Fatima Khawaja attended the meeting, along with Prime Minister’s Adviser Haroon Akhtar, Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani, chief executives of JS Bank, Askari Bank, Allied Bank, Habib Metro Bank, Bank of Khyber and MCB Islamic Bank, and senior officials of the relevant institutions.

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