PM to launch Youth Business, Agricultural Loan Schemes

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will launch Youth Business and Agricultural Loan Schemes in Islamabad on Tuesday.

The initiative is aimed at promoting self-employment and entrepreneurship amongst the youth.

The people in the age bracket of 21 and 45 years can avail the loan facility of up to 7.5 million rupees under these schemes. For IT and E-commerce businesses, the lower age limit is eighteen years.

Micro-financing through small business loans will promote a norm of job creation rather than job seeking among the country's youth bulge.

The addition of agricultural loans will help the rural youth in bringing innovation to farming which can include mechanized farming, the creation of agricultural value chains and the Solarization of farming equipment to create more sustainable energy resource management in a climate-challenged country like Pakistan.

Loans of up to 1.5 million rupees can be availed on personal guarantee of the borrower.

There will be no interest rate on the loan of up to 0.5 million rupees. Five percent interest will be charged on the loan of over 0.5 million to 1.5 million rupees. Seven percent interest rate will be charged on the loan of over 1.5 million rupees to 7.5 million rupees.

Twenty-five percent quota has been reserved for women.

Islamic banking facilities can also be availed on the loan scheme.

The loan scheme was the brain child of PML (N) in making the entrepreneurship related dreams of youth a reality since 2013. Recently the scheme was paused for restructuring and revision.