Islamabad: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Tuesday formed a task force to prepare a plan on providing the country’s farmers with greater access to affordable agricultural loans — a news source reported. The speaker made this decision while presiding over a meeting of the National Assembly’s Special Committee on Agricultural Products.
While addressing the meeting, the Speaker stated that the agriculture sector constituted 19% of the country’s economy, but that it did not have access to the proportionate amount of loans from formal sources. He added that such an access would be crucial for the farmers’ productivity, and to help the community get out of ‘abject poverty’. He further said that there was a dire need to bridge this gap, and that this would require a comprehensive and dispassionate analysis.
He additionally asked the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan to nominate a high official of the central bank to the task force, which already comprises of various members of the National Assembly, the president of the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Ltd, and the secretaries of the finance and national food security departments.
