ISLAMABAD
\nThe Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $155.5 million in financing for Pakistan to support policy reforms enhancing women\u2019s access to finance and providing credit to women-led micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.
\nAccording to an ADB statement released on Monday, the financing comprises a $100 million policy-based loan that supports legal and regulatory reforms that will help women to better access finance; a $50 million financial intermediation loan that will enable participating financial institutions to lend to women entrepreneurs; and a $5.5 million grant that will finance related activities.
\n\u201cInclusive, resilient and sustainable development cannot be achieved if women do not have equal economic opportunities and benefits,\u201d said ADB Director General for Central and West Asia Yevgeniy Zhukov. \u201cADB\u2019s new program will help transform Pakistan\u2019s current financing ecosystem to help women to access much-needed finance and empower them to boost their livelihoods while contributing significantly to the economy.\u201d
\nThe multinational noted that female labor force participation in Pakistan currently stands at only 23%. \u201cThe country also has among the lowest rates of women\u2019s entrepreneurship in the world at 4% of female working-age adults,\u201d said ADB.
\nThe bank said that while Pakistan\u2019s financial inclusion has been improving, women are increasingly left behind with a large gender finance gap which currently stands at 34%.
\n\u201cThere are many women entrepreneurs in Pakistan, but they remain unrecognized, being small and informal in nature and lacking the incentives to register their businesses formally or to grow,\u201d said ADB Senior Financial Sector Economist Andrew McCartney.
\n\u201cPolicies must recognize the importance of women entrepreneurship and create an enabling environment that increases women\u2019s participation in the formal economy and gives them more opportunities to grow their businesses.\u201d
\nThe ADB said that the policy-based loan of $100 million supports reforms that incorporate women\u2019s needs into national policies, such as the State Bank of Pakistan\u2019s (SBP) Banking on Equality Policy that requires banks to establish departments dedicated to providing services to women.
\nThe ADB said it supports measures enabling women\u2019s access to credit and credit alternatives through digital channels, providing financial training and advisory services to women, and improving the working conditions of women within the finance sector.
\nMeanwhile, the $50 million financial intermediation loan is expected to benefit around 2 million women entrepreneurs, including about 510,000 who previously had no access to finance, through lending via participating financial institutions, said ADB.
\nLastly, the $5.5 million grant from the Asian Development Fund (ADF) will finance activities such as the development of financial literacy programs and a digital platform that links women to financial services.
\nLast week, the Bank okayed three projects totalling $658.8 million in Pakistan, which would allow the country to achieve its goal of more inclusive and sustainable growth and development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $155.5 million in financing for Pakistan to support policy reforms enhancing women\u2019s access to finance and providing credit to women-led micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. According to an ADB statement released on Monday, the financing comprises a $100 million policy-based loan that supports legal and regulatory reforms […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329995,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[997],"class_list":{"0":"post-373749","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national","8":"tag-adb"},"yoast_head":"\n