Islamabad (Web Desk): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday ordered provincial chief secretaries to undertake a detailed review of available properties that could be used to facilitate people seeking loans for home construction through the Prime Minister’s Apna Ghar Scheme.
The prime minister issued the directives while leading a meeting focused on reviewing the Access to Finance Plan 2026-28.
He said making reasonably priced housing available to low- and middle-income families was among the government’s highest priorities.
Officials briefed the meeting that the Apna Ghar Scheme had received 147,504 applications to date. Of these, 53,127 cases had been cleared for financing.
The approved applications carry a cumulative value of Rs313.42 billion, while financial institutions have so far released Rs45.43 billion in loans to 8,739 applicants.
The participants were also told that work was underway on a mechanism to locate plots throughout the country that fulfil mortgage-related requirements. Islamabad has been selected to test the system initially before its wider implementation.
Officials said steps would also be taken to bring well-known housing developers into the programme through an appropriate mechanism, with the objective of making the Apna Ghar Scheme more effective and streamlined.
PM Shehbaz called on banks and other financial institutions to increase their contribution toward financing for farmers, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), as well as the housing sector.
“The government would encourage banks that play an active role in providing loans,” he said, noting that agriculture formed the foundation of Pakistan’s economy and that supporting its growth was a national responsibility.
The prime minister further instructed relevant authorities to make sure farmers faced no unnecessary hurdles in obtaining financial assistance and had reliable access to credit.
As per the briefing, lending by banks to the agriculture sector had reached Rs1.268 trillion by August 2026. The Access to Finance Plan 2026-2028 has set an objective of taking agricultural lending to Rs2 trillion by June 2028.
The meeting was also informed that 35,838 applications had been submitted through the Zarkhez-e app, which aims to simplify farmers’ access to loans.
Financing worth Rs7.35 billion had been approved, while Rs1.96 billion had already been distributed among applicants. Bank financing for the SME sector reached Rs1.067 trillion in August 2026. Under the Access to Finance Plan 2026-2028, the target is to increase lending to SMEs to Rs2 trillion by June 2028.
The meeting was further told that the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) had conducted financial literacy training for 1,096 SMEs during the previous three months.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Federal Ministers Ahad Khan Cheema, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Muhammad Aurangzeb and Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Minister of State Bilal Azhar Kayani, Prime Minister’s Adviser Haroon Akhtar Khan, State Bank of Pakistan Governor Jameel Ahmad, chief secretaries from all four provinces as well as Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, IBRD Country Director Bolorma Amgaabazar, presidents and CEOs of Pakistani banks and other senior government officials were present at the meeting.