ISLAMABAD, July 9: The SME Bank has made total recoveries of Rs4.5 billion over the past 28 months, says a press release issued here on Tuesday. The bank, which commenced operations in January this year, now has a total new loan portfolio of Rs665 million to more than 700 enterprises in 20 business sectors, it said. An amount of Rs136 million has been disbursed through leasing. The bank’s lending activities have created an estimated 2500 new jobs. As against a non-performing loan portfolio of more than 85 per cent in previous years, the non-performing loans comprise less than 5 per cent of the new portfolio.

The bank made a profit of Rs494 million on total revenues of Rs825 million in the six months since January.

The SME Bank was established in response to demand of small entrepreneurs for a bank to cater to the financial needs of SMEs. It was established after the successful restructuring and subsequent merger of two sick institutions, SBFC and RDFC. It is worth noting that all this has been accomplished without any additional funding from the government treasury.