Income generation: Govt allocates Rs21b for youth

ISLAMABAD: The government has allocated Rs21 billion for introducing income generation programmes for youth in the country. The programmes included Prime Minister’s Youth Business Loans Scheme under which loans ranging from Rs100,000 to Rs2,000,000, are provided to the youth. The mark-up set at the rate of eight per cent will be paid by the beneficiary while the remaining cost is to be borne by the government, official sources told the media on Monday. The government will also bear five per cent of the portfolio losses of the participating banks, they said. To ensure recovery, banks’ charters provide that the loan must be guaranteed, they added. Accordingly, there is a provision of one guarantor. Till date, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) has received 59,794 applications out of which 15,311 loans have been approved as per laid down criteria.  An amount of Rs3.914 billion has been disbursed, while 13,982 loans are under process.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 7^th,  2015.

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