Senior Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Khalid Malik has called upon the National Bank of Pakistan to consider offering an easy credit scheme for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that would help in accelerating the pace of economic growth.
He said this while exchanging views with Shahzaib Javed Head of Corporate and Marketing (North) of NAFA, a subsidiary of National Bank of Pakistan. He said that NAFA should come up with some attractive and Sharia-compliant investment products for the business community.
He said that SMEs were the backbone of the economy, but due to strict credit criteria of banks, they were facing problems in obtaining credit for business expansion.
He stressed that NBP should take the lead and come up with an easy credit facility for SMEs so that they could grow fast and play a more effective role in the economic development of the country.
At the occasion, Shahzaib Javed, Head of Corporate and Marketing (North), NAFA, subsidiary of NBP briefed the business community about various investment solutions of NAFA investment scheme. He said NAFA was managing over Rs 100 billion and was one of the fastest growing Asset Management Company (AMC) in Pakistan.
He said NAFA investment solutions offered various investment products including NAFA Islamic Principal Protected Fund, NAFA Islamic Stock Fund, NAFA Government Securities Liquid Fund, NAF Money Market Fund, NAF Government Securities Savings Fund, NAFA Savings Fund, NAFA Riba Free Savings Fund, NAFA Financial Sector Income Fund, NAFA Financial Sector Income Fund, NAFA Islamic Income Fund, NAFA Income Opportunity Fund and others.
He said NAFA was founded in August 2005 and its key sponsors included the National Bank of Pakistan and Fullerton Fund Management Group of Singapore. He said NAFA was managing total assets of around Rs.100.3 billion as of March 2017 in 21 open-end mutual funds, 6 pension sub-funds and 193 investment advisory mandates. He said the business community should explore investment options in its various products to further expand their business ventures.
