THE Bank of Punjab (BOP) and Reenergia-lpsos entered into an agreement last week for the development of a `Pakistan SME Environment & Performance Index (BOP-PAK-SEPI)`.

The index, the first of its kind, will track the environment and the performance of SMEs in Pakistan on a periodical basis. SEPl will incorporate the existing Business Enabling Environment Index for Pakistan (BEEIP) developed with financing support of USAID for Pakistan by Reenergia-lpsos.

It shall be a dynamic tool providing the much-needed detailed insights into the performance of the SME sector as a whole along with supplying granular details on SME sub-segments and clusters, thus helping towards more informed policy-making, regulations and targeted financial interventions as well as capturing demographic cuts along the lines of women-led and export-oriented SMEs. •