‘50,000 jobs to be created through Rs5b loan disbursement’

Islamabad : Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Youth Affairs Muhammad Usman Dar Sunday said the Kamyab Jawan Programme (KJP) might help create 50,000 jobs by the year-end through further disbursement of loans amounting to around Rs5 billion among 10,000 registered Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) under its Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme (YES).

Loans of Rs1 billion had already been disbursed among 2,190 qualified entrepreneurs since the launch of YES, while the executing banks had approved two-tier financing of Rs3 billion for 7,592 eligible businesses, Usman Dar said while highlighting the main youth empowerment initiatives, taken by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf since its inception two years ago.

Out of the total approved loans, evaluation of 5,402 businesses was still underway, he added.

The Bank of Khyber (BoK), the Bank of Punjab (BoP) and the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), which deal with the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme, sanctioned Rs4 billion soft loans for 28,859 SMEs after scrutinizing total 58,031, selected for carrying out the businesses analysis, the SAPM told APP.

Out of 28,859 SMEs, he said, 14,664 had been rejected by the banks, whereas 6,489 were under processes.

The SAPM said after evaluating the pre-feasibilities of all the applicants of YES, the banks had initially selected total 58,031 businesses for scrutiny.

Scrutiny of some 10,699 was still underway, while 18,473 had been rejected.

The YES was launched under the banner of Kamyab Jawan Programme in October last year with the seed allocation of Rs100 billion.

Three tiers were introduced under the programme for disbursement of loans ranging from Rs100,000 to Rs25 million among the youth, having workable business ideas.

Third-tier for a loan ranging from Rs10 million to Rs25 million has been added after the expansion of programme.

More than one million applications were received under the Kamyab Jawan Programme, but unfortunately, most of the applicants did not come up with practical business ideas, he said in response to a query.

The SAPM urged the youth to sign up with proper preparation and submit practical business plans to ensure the use of the taxpayers' money for boosting economic activities and jobs creation in the country.

The government last week expanded the soft-loan scheme to benefit the maximum number of young people across the country, Usman Dar said, while highlighting the increase in the loan amount, which has been raised up to Rs25 million.

He said the mark-up rates on initial two tiers had also been halved from 6 per cent and 8 per cent to 3 per cent and four per cent respectively. The lower mark-up rate would also be applicable to those who had already availed loans, he added.