KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday allowed the farming community to use Electronic Warehouse Re­­ceipt (EWR) as collateral for lending against agriculture produce and commodities.

The move will allow farmers, traders, and processors to avail financing facility from banks and improve access to formal credit, reduce losses arising from wastage of agricultural commodities after harvest, increase farmer profitability and reduce risks of banks by allowing agricultural commodity as alternate collateral.

The central bank notified the Collateral Management Company Regulations 2019, under the Companies Act 2017 to promote warehouse receipt financing and electronic trading of agricultural commodities.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2019