PM Shehbaz announces laptops: On Thursday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared that the federal government would award 100,000 computers to the nation’s top-achieving youngsters based only on merit.
“Those who used to criticize the laptop scheme in the past should have witnessed that the very computers helped the youth earn subsistence, notably during the Covid pandemic,” he stated while speaking at a ceremony for the distribution of checks to the Prime Minister Youth Loan Program recipients.
The prime minister said, “I’m offering a laptop, not a Kalashnikov.
He added that the success of the Youth Loan Program, which helped the nation’s economy in addition to helping young people in need, was a key factor in the country’s development.
Pakistan’s young, if given enough opportunities, will raise the nation to new heights.
He claimed that the loan program was an extension of the PM Youth Loan program, which was first introduced in 2013 by then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
PM Shehbaz remembered that Punjab had introduced the CM Youth Loan Plan, which had provided loans for vehicles to 75,000 young people.
He said that the youth loan program’s recovery rate was close to 99%, demonstrating the country’s youths’ sincerity.
“The misperception about the dangers involved in the individual loans by the banks is falsified by the 99% recovery rates of the youth and Kissan loan programmes.”
He claimed that Pakistani youths never had their loans forgiven, which caused significant damage to the country’s economy.
He claimed that, in light of their enormous potential, the government would never let the youth down and would exhaust all available means to provide them with financial facilities.
Update on Youth Loan Program and Freelancer Card by SAPM Shiza Fatima Khawaja and Bank of Punjab CEO
Shiza Fatima Khawaja, the SAPM for Youth Affairs, had earlier updated the audience on the effectiveness of the Youth Loan Program and promised that the target of Rs30 billion in loans to the youth will be reached.
She also expressed her gratitude to the pertinent ministries, banks, microfinance organisations, commercial and social media partners for their assistance and support to the program’s success.
She said that the lending programme will primarily benefit the agricultural and SME sectors.
Bank of Punjab President and CEO Zafar Masud claimed that if they issued the freelancer card and made account access simple, freelancers could generate billions of rupees.
He noted that in the past, the Rozgar scheme’s recovery ratio was 99% and the Kissan scheme’s recovery rate was 99.6%, dispelling myths about government credit programs.