June 11, 2007	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 25, 1428

LAHORE, June 10: The government will advance loans for opening franchised utility stores in villages.

Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool said this while talking to Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Shahid Hassan Sheikh and office-bearers at the Governor’s House here on Sunday.

The governor said that exemption of micro-finance banks from tax would provide the general public opportunities for security loans for small-scale business.

He said the share market would expand and investment in real estate, equity management and mutual funds would also increase as a result.

The business community, he said, should give the credit of presenting an investor-friendly budget to the president, the prime minister and their economic advisors.

Mr Maqbool said the people would support the government instead of opponents of development because the execution of uplift projects of Rs1,000 million included in the budget would not be possible without political stability in the country.

The chamber president and office-bearers congratulated the federal government on presentation of a people-friendly budget.