The National Small and Medium Enterprise Policy 2025 has been drafted without any major changes in strategies adopted in the recently expired policy that failed to achieve the main targets.
Giving almost the same emphasis on the establishment of a 37-member SME Council headed by the adviser or minister for industries, the draft also recommended continuation of a task force headed by the secretary to the industry ministry, said officials concerned.
Referring to data of 2013, the proposed policy said that 2.1 crore people were employed in 78 lakh SMEs which accounted for 28 per cent of the gross domestic product.
The sector鈥檚 target to the GDP was, however, projected at 32 per cent by 2024 from 25 per cent projected in the SME Policy 2019, said the officials.
No interpretation has been made in the new policy regarding the failure to achieve the main target, added the officials.
Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development executive director Mustafa K Mujeri expressed disappointment over the repetition of such policy.
鈥業t is a sheer waste of time by bureaucrats,鈥� he said, adding that the proposed policy would remain incomplete without a thorough review of the previous policy which expires in 2024.
The draft has, however, called for a solution to overcoming problems linked to the access to finance for the SME operators since the access to sustainable credit has remained as a contentious issue for long.
The unwillingness of banks and financial institutes to provide credits to SMEs became visible with the disbursement of only 27 per cent of Tk聽20,000 crore incentive announced by the Bangladesh Bank to tackle the challenge caused by Covid outbreak.
The SMEs, however, bore the main brunt of the two-year-long pandemic, said Small and Medium Enterprises Owners Association of Bangladesh president Md Ali Zaman.
Limited access to finance remained as one of the major challenges for the SMEs over the past decade in Bangladesh, as banks generally favoured larger and well-established companies, according to the White Paper on the State of Bangladesh Economy.
The white paper, prepared by a 12-member committee led by Centre for Policy Dialogue Debapriya Bhattacharya, noted that the SMEs faced difficulties in conducting operations in the intricate regulatory environment.
It said that the complex regulations included cumbersome and bureaucratic licensing procedures, inconsistent application of rules and lack of supporting government agencies.
It also said that lack of support from government agencies made it difficult for the smaller businesses to grow.
Suggesting a number of ways to overcome the problem of credit, the draft of the proposed policy has projected that the sector鈥檚 contribution to GDP would reach 35 per cent from the current 28 per cent.
It has set up 83 time-bound matrices to be implemented by ministries and divisions between 2025 and 2030 for the implementation of the proposed policy, compared to 63 in the previous policy.聽聽聽聽聽聽聽
Expressing doubt about the new target, Md Ali Zaman said there was lack of expertise and vision within the bureaucrats of the industry ministry to draft an effective SME policy.
Industries ministry additional secretary Mohammad Salauddin said that they were consulting stakeholders to find out merits and demerits of the proposed policy.
It will be finalised only after the consultation, added the official who looked after the wing dealing with policy, law and international cooperation.
