Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday voiced concern over delays in a pilot project aimed at exploring, cutting and polishing gemstones before exporting them as value-added products. He directed the concerned officials to present a detailed action plan by next week.
During a meeting in Islamabad to assess the development of the gemstones and jewellery industry and review steps to boost exports, the prime minister stressed that further delays in the sector’s development would not be accepted. He instructed the relevant authorities to prioritise the matter and formulate a clear, time-bound implementation plan.
He stressed the need to establish an integrated system for gemstone mining, cutting, polishing and value addition, noting that inadequate mining methods and smuggling were resulting in annual losses amounting to billions of dollars.
PM Directs Officials to Launch ‘Brand Pakistan’
The prime minister highlighted Pakistan’s vast natural resource potential and instructed officials to prioritise measures aimed at boosting gemstone and mineral exports. He also emphasised the need to establish a distinctive ‘Brand Pakistan’ for gemstones and jewellery, taking inspiration from similar initiatives in other regional countries.
He directed authorities to expedite the establishment of Centres of Excellence focused on value addition. He further instructed officials to address all hurdles delaying the completion of pilot projects and the development of model gemstone mines.
During the meeting, officials reported that 4.8 kanals of land had been transferred for setting up a Centre of Excellence in Hussainabad, Skardu. The required funding was available, and construction was expected to commence shortly. Land had also been identified in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Islamabad. Meanwhile, the Islamabad centre would begin operations at a temporary location until its permanent facility was completed.
Officials informed the meeting that geological mapping had been completed in the designated areas. They also confirmed that eight new blocks across Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) had been identified for additional gemstone exploration.
The meeting was further briefed that Rs1 billion had been earmarked for the sector under the Public Sector Development Programme for the current financial year. To facilitate exporters, Export Facilitation Desks had also been set up at 80 branches of 10 banks across seven cities.
The prime minister instructed the concerned authorities to present a detailed action plan next week, outlining the establishment of Centres of Excellence and additional initiatives to promote the sector.
Federal Ministers Jam Kamal Khan, Dr Musadiq Masood Malik, Ahad Khan Cheema, Ahsan Iqbal, Attaullah Tarar and Ali Pervaiz Malik participated in the meeting. Prime Minister’s Adviser Haroon Akhtar, Minister of State Bilal Azhar Kayani and senior government officials were also in attendance.
PM Shehbaz Urges Banks to Enhance Lending Practices
In a separate development, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has instructed the relevant ministries, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and other stakeholders to enhance access to financing for housing, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and agriculture. He emphasised that providing timely loans to these sectors was vital for economic growth.
During a high-level meeting in Islamabad, the prime minister urged banks that had shown weak performance to improve their lending activities so they could also take advantage of government incentives. He commended banks that were making active contributions to the three priority sectors.
He asked the relevant authorities to engage with stakeholders involved in housing, agricultural and SME financing and present recommendations by the end of the month to improve the effectiveness of existing schemes.
The prime minister further directed officials to bring inactive Passco warehouses and silos into operation through public-private partnerships, with the aim of expanding storage capacity and ensuring the proper preservation of agricultural produce. He appreciated Allied Bank’s approach of developing grain storage facilities and extending loans to farmers against their stored crops. He also instructed officials to expand this initiative in collaboration with the private sector.
Additionally, the prime minister welcomed Allied Bank’s proposed investment plan for the establishment of an SME park.
Regarding the Apna Ghar housing scheme, the prime minister instructed officials to streamline the application procedure for potential beneficiaries and facilitate access to clear property title deeds required for housing finance. He also directed the committee working on developer finance to complete its recommendations and submit them promptly.
The meeting received a briefing on lending performance across the housing, agriculture and SME sectors. Officials reported that banks were enhancing their institutional capacity to extend financing to all three sectors, while a dedicated committee was working on initiatives to promote developer finance.
Under the Apna Ghar scheme, authorities had approved 75,198 loans amounting to Rs448 billion, with Rs76 billion disbursed among 14,000 beneficiaries. For the current year, the government aims to provide Rs700 billion in financing for 125,000 housing units.
Officials informed the meeting that the processing period for housing finance applications had been brought down to 15 working days. The documentation requirement had also been reduced from 25 documents to just five.
Agricultural financing had reached Rs1,352 billion, benefiting 3.455 million people. The target for June 2027 is to increase lending to the agriculture sector to Rs1,500 billion and expand the number of beneficiaries to 4.5 million.
In the SME sector, more than 352,000 business operators had secured loans totalling Rs1,137 billion. By June 2027, the government aims to raise SME financing to Rs1,500 billion and increase the number of borrowing businesses to 575,000.
The meeting was also updated on revised SME regulations, initiatives to simplify housing finance procedures, shared-risk mechanisms for lending, supply chain financing and efforts to improve data sharing.
Federal Ministers Rana Tanveer Hussain, Dr Musadiq Masood Malik, Attaullah Tarar, Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Ahad Khan Cheema and Shaza Fatima Khawaja were present at the meeting. Also in attendance were 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, along with senior officials from the relevant institutions.
