KARACHI, March 29: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have urged the government to ask banks to provide them export refinance facility against letter of credit.

Scores of SME exporters have approached the Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) that banks were demanding collateral for providing them export refinance, which is contrary to SBP prudential regulations.

Unisame convener Zulfikar Thaver said on Monday that SMEs could not provide collateral for obtaining export refinance facility, thus they were being deprived of concessionary credit facility.

He urged Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz to give this matter serious consideration and direct the banks to provide refinance to the SMEs. Mr Thaver complained that only big exporters were enjoying export refinance facility and, SMEs which needed this facility the most, were being deprived. -APP