Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has instructed provincial chief secretaries to conduct a comprehensive nationwide survey of properties suitable for mortgage backed financing under the PM’s Apna Ghar Scheme. Chairing a high level review of the Access to Finance Plan 2026 2028 on Wednesday, the Prime Minister highlighted affordable housing for low and middleincome families as his administration’s top economic priority. Officials reported that the housing scheme has received 147,504 applications, with 53,127 approved to a total value of PKR 313.42 billion.
To date, PKR 45.43 billion has been disbursed to 8,739 successful applicants. Islamabad has been selected as the pilot city for a digital mapping system designed to identify land and plots that meet standard mortgage requirements, while the federal government also plans to establish a structured mechanism involving leading private housing developers to streamline construction processes.
Beyond the housing sector, the meeting addressed broader economic targets aimed at expanding access to capital for key domestic industries. The Prime Minister urged financial institutions to increase credit access for farmers and small businesses, establishing an ambitious benchmark to double bank lending for both the agricultural and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sectors to PKR two trillion each by June 2028.
Agricultural financing reached PKR 1.268 trillion in August 2026, supported by the Zarkhez e digital application, which has approved PKR 7.35 billion across 35,838 loan requests. SME sector lending stood at PKR 1.067 trillion in August 2026, alongside ongoing capacity building efforts by SMEDA. Separately, PM Shehbaz met newly elected Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Iftikhar Ali Gillani, pledging complete federal support for regional development and welfare initiatives.
