Youth in Pakistan through special schemes in the form of loans and provision of modern gadgets.
The much-trumpeted Prime Minister’s ‘Youth Business Loan Scheme’ has been dormant for the last one year and has not been able to achieve its desired targets as slightly over 8,000 people have agreed to take concessionary loans worth Rs5.2 billion so far, revealed officials on Tuesday.
“People have lost interest in the scheme; we are receiving very few applications,” said National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) President Ahmad Iqbal Ashraf, while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue.
He said during first two ballots, as many as 10,442 people were declared eligible to obtain the loans but only 8,184 people or 79% of the total eligible persons accepted the loan offers.
The actual beneficiaries, however, were only 6,126 who received the first tranche, totalling Rs5.2 billion.
“On the question whether the PM Youth Loan programme remained successful or not, the jury is out,” said State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Deputy Governor Saeed Ahmed.
Ahmed also criticised NBP’s approach of waiting for applicants and advised them to go after clients to make the scheme a success story. “The programme target was to disburse Rs100 billion but the government is far behind the target,” he said, admitting that it had rather reached a static point.
“Initially, the interest rate was 13% while the borrower had to pay only 8%,” said the NBP president, “Now the overall interest rate has come down to 11% with borrower’s obligation is 6%.
Ashraf said that the first ballot was held in May 2014, followed by the second one a month later. “
Since June 2014 no balloting has taken place and the NBP has been waiting for a date from PM’s Office for holding the third ballot.”
“People were hesitant to accept the offer due to
stringent requirements of equity and guarantors,” he explained.
PM’s Youth Business Loan Scheme fails to entice - The Express Tribune
I am not sure why youths havent awarded him a trophy for this:
- Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and others misused official resources causing a loss to the national exchequer of Rs 620million by developing 1800 acres of land in Raiwind at state expense.
Or demanded the Nandipur audit to be transparent as is in the case of a democratic country!
I dont see the word democrat in this attitude: Shahbaz Sharif himself heads 12 provincial ministries and he seldom holds cabinet meeting. He takes decisions over ruling,
Yet Democratic PM doesnt see this autocrat from his party?
The government of Punjab has started a new scheme to create employment opportunities for the population known as “Apna Rozgar”. According to this scheme, minimum Matric pass people within the age group 21-35, will be able to get a vehicle from the government of Punjab on lease, whose monthly installment will be paid by the owner in the next three to four years. It seems that the economic advisers of the PML-N government have not learnt anything from the past. In the year 1992, the same scheme was introduced by Nawaz Sharif, the then prime minister. It was known as the yellow cab scheme. It turned out to be a massive failure.
Most of the people didn’t return the instalments to the government. As a result, the deficit in the institutions caused a major economic issue for the government, and it was one of the basic reasons behind the dismissal of the Nawaz Sharif regime in1993.
The employment generation through these schemes is nothing but a wastage of money. We must not forget that Pakistan is one of those countries where employment opportunities for graduates and postgraduates are decreasing with every passing day. And it’s for sure that not a single graduate wants to drive a cab for all his life. The prime minister’s youth loan scheme failure is another example for the government. Instead of designing these political-economic adventures, the government must set up new educational or technical institutions from where people can get some kind of business and entrepreneurial training. Employment generation through loans is very similar to running a country with the help of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Apna Rozgar Scheme
Mismanagement zindabad! Def should get a medal for that!
ISLAMABAD: With a master’s degree in agriculture, Awad Shah, 24, has been searching for a job for the last two years.
“During my study at the Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, I never expected that I would have to
wait for such a long time to get a job,” Shah told Dawn.
He said after
failing to get a job, he tried to start his own business but could not launch it due to lack of resources.
Shah said the initiation of the prime minister’s youth business loan scheme had given him a ray of hope to start his own business.
Since December 2013, only 5,414 youth have obtained the loans across the country
“I was interested in getting a loan to start a fertilizer business but
could not meet the terms and conditions of the scheme.”
He said initially he faced
difficulty in finding a guarantor but later one of his relatives agreed to stand guarantee for me.
But the
bank’s tough conditions forced him to withdraw from the process.According to the requirements,
it is the guarantor, not the borrower, who has to enter into an agreement with the bank on a specified format.
“It is
illogical to transfer the burden of the loan to the guarantor,” he added.
Zafar Bangash, 27, of Sector G-9 also wanted to start his own business of poultry farm in his native town of Kohat.
“I
completed my master’s degree in business administration from Quaid-i-Azam University in 2010 but still remain unemployed.”
He said the
agreement should be between the applicant and the bank. It seems the
government is going to give loans to the guarantors, not the unemployed youth.
He suggested that the loan should be provided against the applicants’ own or their parents’ property.
The
government should review the terms and conditions of the loan if it wants to benefit the youth.
“I have been working in a medical store in Islamabad for seven years and wanted to start my own business but the
government announced the business loan with an eight per cent mark-up which is unjustified,” said 35-year-old Raja Murad of Bhara Kahu.
Naeema Iqbal, 26, who lives in Satellite Town in Rawalpindi, said she wanted to open an embroidery and sewing centre in her native district of Gilgit.
“My area is famous for different designs of embroidery on clothes. I wanted to open a centre and engage the local women artisans and provide them better wages.”
She said it was difficult for her to initiate any business
without getting an interest-free loan.
“
I do not think that I will be able to earn profits from the business after paying the interest on the loan,” she added.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced the loan scheme on December 7, 2013.
It was decided that
citizens aged between 21 and 45 with entrepreneurial potential would be eligible for the scheme with 50 per cent quota reserved for women.
Under the Rs100 billion scheme, 100,000 loans would be given to young entrepreneurs to launch small businesses. The loans will range from Rs100,000 to a maximum of Rs2 million.
The
borrower would pay an eight per cent annual interest rate, whereas the
lending institutions will charge approximately 15 per cent in annual interest.
The government will subsidise the loans by covering the borrowing cost for the difference between the rates charged by lenders and the eight per cent paid by the borrowers.
Officials in the ministry of finance said around 5,414 youth - 348 from Sindh, 76 from Balochistan, 4,128 from Punjab, 675 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, seven from Gilgit-Biltistan, 75 from Azad Kashmir and 105 from the federal capital - had so far obtained loans under the scheme.
The officials said
the government was considering excluding the condition of a guarantor but the banks were reluctant to accept it.
Former caretaker finance minister Dr Salman Shah said it was a good initiative of the government but for the applicants it was also not easy to find a guarantor.
But he also said it would be
difficult for the banks to provide loans without a guarantor.
He said the government should reduce the rate of interest or provide interest-free loans to the youth.
When contacted,
Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood Khan acknowledged that the applicants were facing problems in finding guarantors. But it is
also difficult for the banks to provide loans without a guarantor, he added.
“Who will return the loans to the banks if the loan seekers did not provide a guarantor,” he asked.
Riphah International University Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Anis Ahmad said
the youth were suffering due to the unemployment and extremist groups always tried to get advantage of the situation.
“Under such circumstances,
any scheme that engages the youth in productive activities must be welcomed. But there is no concept of Riba or interest in Islam.”
He said the
government should introduce interest-free loan schemes for the youth.
When contacted, PPP leader Fawad Chaudhry said the government initiated the loan scheme without proper planning.
“Unsuspecting individuals will end up
borrowing huge sums for projects they will not be able to plan or execute while the defaulted amounts will be added to the ever-growing public debt,” he said.
Chairperson of the youth scheme
Maryam Nawaz could not be contacted for comments.
Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2014
Tough conditions keep youth from PM’s loan scheme - Pakistan - DAWN.COM
The prime minister failed to
put up a single appearance in the Senate for a
whole year.
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2015/02/14/features/nawaz-sharifs-four-deadly-sins/
Another medal for "caring" PM!
