June 30, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 14, 1428

PESHAWAR, June 29: Governor, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, has said that no commercial bank will finance any industrial project in the NWFP unless the provincial government creates a cordial atmosphere for industrial development in the province.

Talking to a delegation of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) here at the SBP Peshawar, she said commercial banks would not support any project facing hardships in the running of its own affairs. She, however, remarked that the provincial government can direct the Bank of Khyber to extend lending facilities to industries and business activities in the province.

The delegation, led by SCCI president Liaqat Ahmad Khan, comprised former president, Mohsin Aziz, Sufi Bashir Ahmad, Haji Mohammad Israr, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, Shahid Munir, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Zahid Arif, Mohammad Sadiq and Sharafat Ali Mubarak.

The Managing Director, SBP, Mohammad Kamran, deputy governor Yasin Anwar, Mansoor Rehman, chief manager, Peshawar, Mohammad Hamayun Khan, Mohammad Naveedul Hassan, Iftikhar Allahwalla, Tariq Saeed Sehgal and Syeda Asma Aziz were present.

The SBP governor informed the delegation that reforms were being initiated in the central bank through which the mandate of the bank would be diverted from financing to only monitoring body.

She lamented that except Punjab no other province had authentic data of their industrial sectors.

Ms Akhtar said the central bank would contact the NWFP government for initiating measures for industrial development, saying none of the banks would like to extend lending to the business community here because of its particular situation.

Dr. Shamshad Akhtar disclosed that commercial banks had huge amount last year, but none of them extended lending to the business community of the province due to unfavourable conditions and lack of industrial development.

She said all provincial governments should guarantee provision of conducive and favourable environment for industries in their respective provinces.

Earlier, the SCCI president appreciated the investment-friendly policies of the central bank and urged it to direct commercial banks to extend lending to the province.

He said that the province lagged far behind other provinces in term of industrialisation and business development, mainly because of inefficient policies of the successive governments.

Mr Khan was of the opinion that in case of strict implementation of the monitoring policy by the central bank, the commercial banks would ultimately extend lending in the province.