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Equal opportunities for both men and women for accessing and pursuing all financial and professional endeavors are essential for sustainable and inclusive economic growth in any country. Recognizing the importance of women’s empowerment and foreseeing it as a tool for poverty alleviation, SBP has addressed the gender gap in Pakistan’s financial sector through a range of policy measures and direct interventions.


Mobirise

Strategy:


National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS)
Under SBP’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) 2023, SBP is committed to improve usage in women’s accounts with a headline target of reaching 20 million active women accounts by 2023. Prior to this, under NFIS 2015, SBP achieved its headline target of improving adult women’s account ownership to 25% by 2020, well before the timeline, as the ratio stood at 27% by 2018.


Schemes:


SBP Refinance & Credit Guarantee Scheme for Women Entrepreneurs
To improve access to finance for the women entrepreneurs, SBP launched a refinance cum credit guarantee scheme for women borrowers across the country. Under the scheme, refinancing will be provided by SBP at 0% with 60% risk coverage to participating financial institutions for onward lending to women entrepreneurs across the country at a mark-up rate of up to 5% per annum. The key features of the scheme are as under:


Prime Minister's Kamyab Jawan Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme (YES)
The Government of Pakistan has designed a comprehensive program named “Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan Program” through which all Pakistani citizens aged between 21 and 45 years with entrepreneurial potential can avail financing under Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme (YES). Furthermore, a quota of 25% is reserved for women entrepreneurs. In this regard, key features of the scheme are as under:



Click Here for Detailed Features of the Scheme

Asaan Account

The Asaan Account aims to facilitate unbanked or under-banked masses to open an account easily with less requirements. It is especially targeted towards women or housewives, skilled or unskilled work force, farmers, less educated or uneducated people, laborers or daily wagers, self-employed individuals, pensioners, young adult population etc.
Asaan Accounts are offered by all Commercial, Islamic and Microfinance banks and have the following features:


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Financial Literacy:


Lack of financial literacy among masses is one of the major impediments in promotion of financial inclusion in Pakistan. As per Access to Finance Survey 2015, almost 40 percent of the financially excluded population of the country reported lack of understanding of financial products as the main reason for financial exclusion. In order to enhance the financial education and awareness among low-income segment, SBP has taken following initiatives:



To know more or give feedback, please contact us at
[email protected]