May 28, 2003	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 25,1424

KARACHI, May 27: Governor State Bank Dr Ishrat Hussain on Tuesday said that separate prudential rules and regulations would be introduced for small and medium enterprises.

In a meeting with a delegation of Small & Medium Enterprises Association of Pakistan (SAMEA) led by its president Zafar Iqbal the governor also said that all rules and regulations of loaning to SME sector will be published in Urdu.

Dr Ishrat Hussain also assured to simplify the procedure of loan and advances to SMEs and remove the collateral requirements for such loans.

The governor agreed with the suggestion of SAMEA that branches of SME and Khushhali banks should be opened in areas where SMEs concentrate.

The SAMEA delegation pointed out that businessmen have to suffer unnecessary losses as bank guarantees are not released after expiry of their validity with the result that their cash deposits with the guarantee held up for long time.

The SBP governor assured to provide relief to businessmen in this connection and instructed director, banking services, Kamran Shehzad, who was assisting him, to advise banks to amend the format of bank guarantee suitably.

On a quarry from SAMEA, the governor SBP said that old and soiled currency notes are being phased out and new currency notes with better security features will be introduced shortly.

He said that the appointment of a banking ombudsman on the pattern of federal tax ombudsman is also in the offing. However, the governor ruled out the possibility of printing Rs5000 or Rs10,000 denomination currency notes.