The government has decided to loan out Rs. 200 billion under the Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan programme to the youth of the country.
The government will disburse the loans without charging any interest to achieve the target of providing 2 million jobs in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
The government will provide a subsidy of Rs. 24 billion over a period of five years by not collecting interest on loans.
The Prime Minister’s Youth Business Loan Scheme, which was initiated by the previous administration of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), will cease to exist after Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan programme’s launch.
Prime Minister Imran Khan had formed a committee to fine-tune the loan programme so that it could prove more beneficial to the youth and is more transparent.
Government officials also held meetings with officers of the State Bank of Pakistan, National Bank of Pakistan, The Bank of Punjab and the Bank of Khyber. Later, an effective programme for SME lending called the Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan scheme was developed.
Previously the loan programme was also discussed in a meeting held under the chairmanship of the finance minister Asad Umar on February 12, 2019.
Under the scheme, three types of subsidized loans will be disbursed.
In the tier-1, credit will be considered as clean lending with only personal guarantee of the borrower while in tier-2 and tier-3, banks may follow their own credit policies.
Moreover, this scheme is aimed to provide affordable financing for starting a new business or strengthening existing business to unemployed people in the age bracket of 21-45 years.
Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan loan programme will help meet the government’s target of creating 2 million jobs through the SME sector as approved by the premier under the National Financial Inclusion Strategy.