LAHORE, Sept 24: The government will spend more than Rs13 billion on development of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country till 2015, says Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (Smeda) Chief Executive Officer Shahid Rashid.

Speaking at a media workshop on SME policy organised by Smeda for Lahore Economic Journalists Association here on Monday, Rashid said initial proposals for spending Rs1 billion to promote SMEs had already been submitted to the government.

An SME had been defined as an organisation employing up to 250 workers with paid up capital up to Rs25 million and annual turnover up to Rs250 million.

Mr Rashid said the implementation of the policy had been ensured through an inbuilt monitoring mechanism and national and provincial committees had been formed in this connection. He said the committees were being headed by federal and provincial ministers for industries and had private sector’s participation as well.

The Smeda chief executive officer said draft of the SME Act had also been submitted to the Ministry of Industries to get it approved by federal cabinet. The federal minister for industries shall chair the semi-annual meetings of the national committee to review the implementation of SME Policy and decide about specific measures for enterprise development and adjustment of existing measures in line with the developments. The committee would serve as a mechanism to improve coordination between different stakeholders and resolve differences, Mr Rashid added.

The Smeda chief executive said development of an SME database basing on the 2005 Economic Census had been completed and an SME Baseline Survey was in progress across 17 districts, the report of which would be submitted to the parliament.

He said a Business Support Fund (BSF) and a Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) recommended in the SME Policy were already in place with the funds required for their operations. The rest of the projects proposed in the policy would be completed as per the timeframe set in the implementation plan. These projects included establishment of a Credit Guarantee Agency for SMEs with a fund of Rs3 billion, an SME Subcontracting Exchange costing Rs26.09 million, an SME Development Institute by spending Rs115.66 million, an SME Export House costing Rs156.89 million and creation of an SME Promotion Council with a fund of Rs143.72 million.

He said Smeda had decided to organise a series of road shows, seminars and business galas throughout the country to create awareness among SMEs on the opportunities to be available in the wake of implementation of the SME Policy. He said that there were 3.2 million SMEs in the country which could play a key role in poverty alleviation. Women had only 2 percent share in the SMEs which the government intended to increase to 25 percent, he added.

He said the SMEs would be given performance awards on the recommendation of the national and provincial committees from next year. He said mark-up rates were determined by the market but government could share the burden to provide relief to the SMEs.