March 26, 2003	Wednesday	Muharram 22, 1424

LAHORE, March 25: The prudential regulations of the banking sector need to be gradually changed in order to meet the growing financial requirements of the small and medium enterprises.

This was stated by Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Yawar Irfan Khan while speaking at a seminar on “SME financing” here on Tuesday. The seminar was organized jointly by the LCCI and the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (Smeda).

Mr Yawar said the small businesses require “doses of finance to operate smoothly and the banking sector should help them irrespective of the existing laws governing the provision of running finance facilities for the SMEs.”

“The fast changing corporate culture and the requirements of the state demand a much comprehensive documentation of the economic activity as well as the business entities.

The concept of managing an SME in such a business environment has not undergone a conceptual change. Due to this factor, the SMEs do not go for any expansion and, thus do not require financing. For this reason, the issue of financing has seldom bothered the small and medium sector businesses,” he said.