ISLAMABAD, Feb 13: The Senate Standing Committee on Women Development has called upon the First Women Bank to introduce more vibrant policies catering to the women of far-flung areas.

The committee, which met here at the Parliament House with Senator Tahira Latif in the chair, also recommended that the markup rate on micro credit loans for women should be reduced from 14 per cent to five per cent.

It commended the efforts of the bank’s president towards introducing various credit schemes, and observed that the institution had played a key role in economically empowering the womenfolk of Pakistan.

Media should be utilised properly to create awareness among women about the various schemes the bank has introduced, the meeting noted.

The committee suggested that the budget of the Ministry of Women Development should be increased so that more initiatives could be taken for the welfare of women living below the poverty level.

Earlier, First Women Bank president Zarine Aziz gave a presentation on the overall working and performance of the bank and the schemes introduced for making women self-reliant in their socio-economic life. She said the bank had been restructured completely to make it “bank of the women” in real sense.

She said the bank had shown progress during the last six years despite the fact that it plunged into colossal losses which were purely indebted to forex downfall along with some other factors.

Ms Aziz said the bank was moving in the right direction and facilitating a large number of women.

Replying to a question, she said its markup rate was quite low as compared to other banks and the recovery rate of loans was more than 90 per cent. She said the bank’s share value had increased from Rs5 to Rs31 due to market-oriented policies.

The Ministry of Women Development’s secretary stated that the ministry also coordinated with the bank to achieve the desired objectives.

He informed the committee that the government was seriously considering to privatise the bank.

The meeting was attended by senators Razina Alam Khan, Semeen Siddiqui, Saeed Ahmed Hashmi, Fauzia Fakharuz Zaman Khan, Rukhsana Zuberi and Dr Kauser Firdaus.