TFD Report
LAHORE: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Thursday jointly organized first of awareness session on “SBP Concessionary Finance and Markup Subsidy Schemes” at the LCCI.
The Awareness session was jointly chaired by the Chief Manager of the State Bank of Pakistan Javaid Iqbal Marath and LCCI Senior Vice President Nasir Hameed Khan while Regional Sales Manager Home Finance of Faysal Bank Syed Mazhar Arslan and Regional Sales Manager Home Finance of JS Bank Khawaja Noman Ahmed and experts from different sectors of economy spoke on the occasion.
The SBP officials highlighted various aspects of the Concessionary Finance and Markup Subsidy Schemes saying that in line with its vision of providing affordable housing to the masses, Government of Pakistan has announced Markup Subsidy Facility for the construction and purchase of new houses. They said that this facility allows all individuals, desirous of constructing or buying a new house for the first time, to avail bank’s financing at subsidized and affordable markup rates.
They said that State Bank of Pakistan is executing partner with Government of Pakistan and Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority. The markup subsidy facility is available through all banks and is divided in three tiers. Through a detailed presentation, officials of the State Bank of Pakistan and other speakers highlighted the key features of the Government of Pakistan’s Markup Subsidy Schemes including eligibility criteria, size of housing unit, maximum price of housing unit, maximum loan size, loan tenor, security requirements etc.
LCCI Senior Vice President Nasir Hameed Khan appreciated State Bank for launching ‘Government Markup Subsidy Scheme on Housing Finance’ in order to support the general public in availing housing finance. He said that as per Government’s estimation, Pakistan is currently facing an overall housing shortage of 11-12 million housing units. The urban housing shortage is estimated to be around 4 million. Since Punjab houses 53% population of the country, the housing needs in Punjab are way more than the other provinces.
“LCCI really praises the initiatives for facilitating the special segments of society like special persons”, the LCCI SVP said and added that we are well aware about the acute challenges, the special persons have to face in our society due to their natural or accidental frailty. In present circumstances, it has got quite difficult for a normal person to realize the dream of having his own house, one can imagine how difficult it would be for the special persons to materialize their wish pertaining to have an independent house.
He said that both the schemes were the urgent need of the hour. He hoped that these schemes will also enhance the growth rate of almost 40 allied industries. It is important to mention that 70% of unskilled labourers are linked with housing and construction sector. Similarly, there will be a positive impact on job market as well. We anticipate that through employment multiplier, a lot of direct, indirect and induced jobs will also be created.
He said that these schemes have the potential to give boost to the Housing Sector according to the vision of Prime Minister. It is needless to mention that the support of the Financial Institutions is quite essential in this connection.
“Currently, the Housing Finance in Pakistan is even less than 1% of GDP while in the regional countries it is around 10%. It has been heard that the commercial banks are being directed to ensure that they should make 5% of their total advances to housing sector. He expressed his hopes that these initiatives can bring earnest turnaround in economy.
