March 5, 2002	Tuesday	Zilhaj 20, 1422

KARACHI, March 4: The Khushhali Bank (KHB) has established retail microfinance network in 30 districts since its inception in August 2000, the Khushhali Bank’s President Ghalib Nishtar informed a delegation of Asian Development Bank’s board directors on Monday.

The ADB’s board directors included Executive Directors Xiaoyu Zhao, Uwe Henrich, Jeung Hyon Yoon and Khawaja Zaheer Ahmad and alternate executive directors John Austin and Martin Verway. The delegation visited the newly established office of Khushhali Bank in Rawalpindi.

A press release faxed by the bank from Islamabad says that so far Rs250 million loans have been serviced and 30 per cent of the clients are women.

Ghalib Nishtar informed the ADB delegation that Khushhali Bank is most likely to be the fastest growing programme in the region that has also been meeting the agreed performance benchmarks.

Pakistan government has taken up a micro-finance sector development programme with the assistance of ADB to broaden and deepen micro-finance sector.

This task is being achieved through (a) a conducive policy environment (b) development of appropriate financial infrastructure (c) promoting and strengthening of micro finance institutions (d) developing linkages with the NGOs and community organizations (e) investing in building social capital (f) mitigating risks of poor households and (g) institutional development.