KARACHI: Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Jameel Ahmad said that SBP fully recognises access to financial services fundamental right and SBP's mission is to empower every citizen by providing them with tools and knowledge needed to participate fully in economy.

Addressing via video link to inaugural event of Pakistan Financial Literacy Week (PFLW) held at Learning Resource Centre SBP Governor said that an inclusive financial sector is not only important for overall growth of banking industry but also augments monetary policy transmission channels and increases its effectiveness.

Jameel Ahmad stated that SBP has always been working on increasing availability and utilisation of financial services for people and businesses to meet their financial services needs in fair and dignified manner.

He said that key initiatives taken for expanding financial services to unbanked and underbanked segments of society includes implementation of national level strategies and policies such as National Financial Inclusion Strategy, National Financial Literacy Programme and Banking on Equality Policy.

He shared that SBP has been implementing number of initiatives under national level policies which are uniquely positioned to benefit all segments of population, i.e. RAAST, ASAAN Digital Account, ASAAN Mobile Account and more recently Digital Banks and specialised schemes to enhance access to finance.

Specialised schemes include SME Asaan Finance Scheme, Refinance and Credit Guarantee Scheme for Women Entrepreneurs, Line of Credit for MSMEs and Prime Minister's Youth Business and Agriculture Loan Scheme.

He said that financial inclusion is cornerstone of central bank's endeavor to expand outreach of financial services to entire population and it was very important for developing economy like Pakistan. 

In PFLW inauguration ceremony, Excellence Awards were conferred upon various commercial banks that actively participated in National Financial Literacy Programme since its commencement in 2017 and contributed to improving financial literacy among beneficiaries.

Second session of event included panel discussion, where experts and thought leaders explored future landscape of digital finance. Field offices of Banking Services corporation of SBP were holding activities including student poster competition in 15 cities while 157 financial literacy camps were also being organised across country.