Increase micro-financing, Dar directs PPAF

Prime Minister’s interest-free loan scheme to aid the poor.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar on Wednesday directed the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) to focus on devising microfinance structures for areas which have low or no access to small-scale financing.

“Areas with low or no microfinance should be reached and the scheme should be devised on low operational cost,” Dar said while chairing a meeting to review and launch the Prime Minister’s Interest-Free Loan Scheme here in Islamabad.

He said that the Prime Minister had, during his election campaign, announced that the PML-N will reach out to the poorer segments of the population through his interest-free loan schemes enabling them to stand on their own feet.

Dar added that, in line with the manifesto, interest-free loans should be rolled out at the earliest, and that all modalities including structural layout should be worked out before the end of March. He assured that the government will fulfill the promises made to the nation.

Earlier, PPAF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Qazi Azmat Isa briefed the finance minister on the details of the concept paper, operational cost and disbursement on the basis of province, urban-rural divide and gender share.

Isa shared the outreach plan for the scheme and the details of the workforce to be trained for delivery of the product. He said that the PPAF’s  broad outreach across the country along with its expertise in undertaking a range of poverty alleviation interventions will help the government to design, mobilise, implement and monitor the programme.

He declared this would occur in concurrence with partnerships with organisations that implement poverty alleviation programs through microfinance, interest-free loans or livelihoods interventions in Pakistan.

Among others, the meeting was attended by Member National Assembly Umer Ayub Khan, Akhuwat Executive Director Dr Muhammad Amjad Saqib, Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood, Secretary Economic Affairs Division (EAD) Nargis Sethi, Secretary National Food Security and Research Seerat Asghar, Adviser to the finance ministry Rana Assad Amin, and other senior officials of the Finance Ministry.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2014.

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