{"id":22273,"date":"2025-01-16T01:04:12","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T01:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voiceofmelange.global\/?p=22273"},"modified":"2025-01-16T01:04:12","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T01:04:12","slug":"finance-minister-chairs-the-2nd-meeting-of-the-pms-committee-on-social-impact-financing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voiceofmelange.global\/?p=22273","title":{"rendered":"Finance Minister Chairs the 2nd Meeting of the PM\u2019s Committee on Social Impact Financing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Islamabad : Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, chaired the second meeting of the Prime Minister\u2019s Committee on Social Impact Financing at the Finance Division. The session aimed at exploring innovative financial solutions to drive social impact, enhance financial inclusion, and uplift marginalized communities across Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meeting brought together a diverse group of stakeholders from the public and private sectors, including Dr. Amjad Saqib, Founder \u2013 Akhuwat Foundation, Mr. Waqas ul Hassan – CEO Karandaaz, Dr. Fatima Khushnood, CEO \u2013 Pakistan Environment Trust, Mr. Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh, Team Leader \u2013 REMIT, Dr. Ayesha Khan, Regional MD \u2013 Acumen, Ms. Maheen Rahman, CEO \u2013 InfraZamin, Ms. Shazia Maqsood Amjad, CEO \u2013 Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy, Mr. Shahid Aziz, Former CEO \u2013 Interloop Asset Management, Mr. Rashid Bajwa, CEO \u2013 NRSP, Mr. Naveed A. Khan, Chairman \u2013 Pakistan Microfinance Investment Company (PMIC). The meeting was also attended by Governor SBP, CEO State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC), MD Bait-ul-Mal, Secretary BISP, Secretary PA&SS, and Secretary Finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before initiating the meeting, Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb emphasized the significance of addressing both economic reforms and critical existential challenges facing Pakistan. \u201cWhile we are focused on steering the economy through various reforms, we are equally committed to tackling pressing issues such as the rapid population growth, which contributes to child stunting and learning poverty, and the ongoing climate change crisis. This meeting holds immense importance in resolving and addressing both of these challenges,\u201d remarked the Finance Minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meeting proceeded with a follow-up presentation providing an update on actions from the previous session, followed by presentations from Karandaaz Pakistan and the Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karandaaz\u2019s presentation highlighted the global growth of impact investing, which has reached $1.571 trillion in assets under management, growing at an annual rate of 21% since 2019. The organization proposed the establishment of a Green Impact Fund (GIF), a $250 million initiative aimed at financing green micro and small enterprises (MSMEs). This fund would offer concessional loans, equity with first-loss guarantees, and technical assistance, drawing support from global climate financing sources, commercial institutions, and public or donor funding. The discussion underscored the potential of such initiatives to foster economic growth, address climate challenges, and promote bottom-up development by creating jobs and empowering underserved communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety also provided insights into its ongoing initiatives within the social impact financing framework. These included:
1. Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP):
\u2022 Nashonuma initiative, supporting 2 million pregnant women and children under two with nutrition and stipends.
\u2022 Kafalaat Program, offering cash transfers to 9.3 million women with a budget of Rs. 461 billion.
2. National Poverty Graduation Program (NPGP):
\u2022 Transferred productive assets to 151,822 households, providing 252,012 interest-free loans and livelihood training.
\u2022 Reported a 74.4% graduation rate out of extreme poverty, with a 30% increase in income.
3. Poverty Graduation of Extremely Poor and Flood-Affected Households (PGEP):
\u2022 A USD 134.2 million initiative providing livelihood assets, climate-smart agricultural technologies, and interest-free loans.
4. Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal Programs:
\u2022 Managing shelter homes, women empowerment centers, and the Orphan and Widow Support Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discussions also focused on strategic priorities for advancing social impact financing, including:
\u2022 Mobilizing philanthropic capital and global impact investments for underserved communities.
\u2022 Developing a robust regulatory framework for social impact financing.
\u2022 Expanding financial inclusion through innovative tools and blended financing models.
\u2022 Leveraging public-private partnerships to address climate change and promote sustainable development.
\u2022 Enhancing resilience through targeted interventions for disaster-affected and climate-sensitive areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Finance Minister emphasized the need for a structured approach to measure the actual social impact of financial inclusion efforts. He remarked, \u201cIt is crucial to focus on the structuring, monitoring, and reporting of social impact outcomes to effectively gauge the results of our initiatives.\u201d The Minister also highlighted the importance of capacity building across all sectors and the creation of comprehensive dashboards for tracking progress. \u201cWhile we are doing a commendable job in specific verticals, as a country, we must take a more holistic approach and scale up our efforts horizontally to ensure broader impact,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Finance Minister urged all stakeholders to accelerate efforts in finalizing and operationalizing the proposed frameworks, ensuring that Pakistan\u2019s goals for sustainable development, climate resilience, and poverty alleviation are realized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Islamabad : Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, chaired the second meeting of the Prime Minister\u2019s Committee on Social Impact Financing at the Finance Division. The session… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":22274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,5],"tags":[761],"class_list":["post-22273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-national","tag-economic-affairs-division"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/voiceofmelange.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/voiceofmelange.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/voiceofmelange.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voiceofmelange.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voiceofmelange.global\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22273"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/voiceofmelange.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22275,"href":"https:\/\/voiceofmelange.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22273\/revisions\/22275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voiceofmelange.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/voiceofmelange.global\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voiceofmelange.global\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voiceofmelange.global\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}