KARACHI: Banks granted conditional approvals for about Rs 7.4 billion of housing loans under Mera Pakistan Mera Ghar (MPMG) during a two-day event held in Faisalabad.

According to a statement released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Monday in an overwhelming response to the first ever Mera Pakistan Mera Ghar (MPMG) Mela Organized by the State Bank in Faisalabad, the banks registered demands for Rs 18 billion from the candidates.

READ MORE: Mera Pakistan Mera Ghar Funding Gains Momentum

Within two days of Melawhich was held from March 19 to 20, 2022, more than 30,000 people visited to get information about the MPMG and apply for loans through the banks’ one-stop shop.

Against the registered applications, the banks provided conditional approvals of around Rs 7.4 billion.

During the inauguration ceremony of the MelaDr. Reza Baqir, Governor of the State Bank, in his opening speech took the audience through the MPMG journey.

He mentioned that due to the continuous efforts of SBP, Government, NAPHDA and banks, the number of finance applications and their approvals are steadily increasing with banks approving over Rs 4.5 billion and disbursing approximately 2.3 billion rupees per week.

Through the MPMG scheme, applications for affordable housing finance which were almost non-existent about 15 months ago have reached Rs 357 billion, of which Rs 157 billion has been approved and Rs 56 billion disbursed so far.

The inauguration ceremony was also delivered by Faiz Ullah Kamoka, Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Farrukh Habib, Minister of State for Information.

Both speakers underlined the government’s particular emphasis on promoting housing and construction finance, especially for low and affordable housing. MPMG recipients get fixed rate, subsidized funding because the government subsidizes this underserved area.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by CEOs of banks, dignitaries from Faisalabad including leading businessmen, VCs of universities and media.

During the Mela25 banks and 28 builders/developers set up booths and made arrangements to receive applications, process applications after eCIB clearance, calculate installment amounts and issue conditional approval letters to applicants.

Despite the scorching heat, long questions from interested candidates were seen on bank stalls. In order to create healthy competition between banks, their performance during Mela were measured in five categories and made public to recognize their efforts.

The results of this competition were as follows:

Meezan Bank for having the most innovative booth

Meezan Bank to have the highest app connections

BOP and NBP being the fastest bank to offer the first conditional approval letter to an applicant

ABL for providing the most conditional approval letters to applicants

Bank Al-Habib for the best quality of service according to visitors’ votes

Throughout the Mela, senior SBP officials visited the stalls of banks and developers to oversee progress. Complaints from interested candidates were handled on the spot.

Senior officials, including presidents and regional heads of banks were visited on Mela and guided candidates. All of this resonated well with the key objective of the Mela, stressed by the Governor of the State Bank during the inauguration session, that the general public must witness and believe that they obtain funding under the MPMG flagship program.