[PF:158827] Help motivate people, Zardari asks bank heads

By Asim Yasin

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari Wednesday called upon the country's banking and finance sector to use influence in areas of their operations and participate in flood relief and rehabilitation by sensitising the people and state agencies to the colossal damage and ways to recover the lost ground.

"We hope that the worst floods were caused by freak weather and will not recur. We should also keep in mind that it may have been caused by climatic change and have to brace ourselves for such disasters in future as well," the president said while addressing the bank heads and banking and financial sector  professionals who had been invited to the Presidency for a special emergent meeting on flood relief and rehabilitation and the role the bankers can play in this regard.

Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar briefing the media said the president said that the banks should provide necessary financial services to farmers and small businesses to help them restore their businesses and urged them to play a role in the revival of economic activities in the devastated areas. "A scheme should be devised to provide relief to the existing borrowers of devastated areas and at the same time make provision for fresh financing for  revival of economic activities," he added.

He said 2.6 million acres of cultivated land was affected with a crop loss of Rs200 billion. The president said agriculture and housing were the most seriously impacted areas and banks were saddled with the social responsibility of pressing into service their professional skills for addressing the issues in these two sectors.

He said the government will provide free seeds to farmers to grow canola early next month in the flood affected areas and also distribute first instalment of Rs5,000 of the relief assistance per family before Eid. "These are also areas in which the banks can play a positive and constructive role for speedy implementation," he said.

Babar said the president directed the House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC) that while providing financial services for reconstruction of damaged housing sector, the Corporation should also undertake search for suitable technologies that enabled the rebuilt houses withstand earthquakes and floods.

He called for a separate briefing on rebuilding the destroyed dwelling units using modern technology to make them disaster proof. Later in the interactive session the heads of country's banks and financial institutions offered several suggestions about their role in mitigating the effects of calamity and assured the president that driven by their sense of social responsibility they will rise to the expectations of the nation.

Those who were present during the meeting included among others President First Women Bank Shafqat Sultana, President NBP Syed Ali Raza, President SME Bank RA Chughtai, President ZTBL Muhammad Zaka Ashraf, President Askari Bank Rafiquddin Mehkari, Group head Bank Alflah SM Talib Rizvi, President HBL R Zakir Mahmood, CE Bank Al-Habib Abbas D Habib, President UBL Atif R Bokhari, VP Citibank Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht, and President ABL Khalid Sherwani.

Article Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/26-08-2010/National/1335.htm

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