Deputy SBP Governor-led body formed

RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan, on Saturday, decided to constitute a steering committee, headed by the deputy governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), to ensure smooth and undisrupted grant of youth entrepreneurship loans.

The decision was taken in a meeting with heads of various banks, here on Saturday, to discuss provision of easy loans under “Kamyab Jawan Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme”.

The prime minister also sought regular update on the schemes’ progress.

The meeting was also attended by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Usman Dar, Institutional Reforms Advisor Dr Ishrat Hussain, Advisor on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, State Bank of Pakistan Governor Reza Baqir, PM Advisor on Commerce and Textile Abdul Razak Dawood, and presidents and heads of various banks.

A detailed briefing was given on the mechanism to ease out the lending process, ensure transparency and merit.

He said that youth could play an important role in stabilising the national economy, and the government was prioritising their assistance in construction, industries, and information technology sectors.

The prime minister constituted a high-level steering committee under deputy governor of State Bank of Pakistan to ensure smooth and undisrupted grant of youth entrepreneurship loans.

Appreciating full participation and interest of all banks in Kamyab Jawan scheme, he said after promotion of construction activities in the country, cooperation of banks in providing business opportunities to youth was praiseworthy.

The prime minister assured that the government would not only ensure timely payment of subsidies to the collaborating banks but also address all the issues confronting them on a priority basis.

The prime minister said it was among the government’s priorities to assist the construction sector, small and medium enterprises, and information technology, and sought banks’ cooperation in this regard.

Usman Dar gave a briefing to the participants of the meeting regarding the disbursement of loans under the programme.

The meeting was informed that 21 banks were taking part in the scheme that had pledged to disburse Rs15 billion loans this year.

Dar took to Twitter, and stated that the federal government allocated Rs100 billion for facilitating youth to run their businesses for three years.

He further said the loan disbursement process was continuing on merit, and in a transparent manner, after timely scrutiny of applications.

Dar said that educated youth were submitting their applications in banks for getting the benefit of the scheme.

So far, around 470,000 applications had been received, and the loaning process was in progress after timely scrutiny.