KARACHI, June 22: Pakistan is trying to increase the outreach of micro financing to three million people in five years from the existing one million, according to Tawfiq A. Husain, deputy governor of the State Bank.

While speaking at a conference held here on Wednesday to look for ways to scale up financial services for the poor, he said four micro finance banks were already operating in the country and applications for two more were in the process. He said the SBP firmly believed in the utility of micro finance as an effective tool of poverty alleviation adding that the central bank had laid down simple and responsive set of rules to govern micro finance institutions.

He said the SBP had established a separate micro finance division to focus on related issues and created a micro finance resource pool comprising 25 officers to train them exclusively in micro finance.

He said the central bank has also engaged a consulting firm of international repute to develop onsite and off-site surveillance manuals for micro finance banks. He said interest in micro financing was growing in the private sector and added that micro finance was not only a tool of poverty alleviation but also a viable business proposition.

The conference was organized by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP).