PESHAWAR: KP government has announced interest-free loans worth Rs 3.8 billion for the youth of the province, which will also put a special emphasis on the merged areas youth.

The decision was taken during a meeting held at the Planning and Development Department, here on Wednesday which was chaired by the Additional Chief Secretary, Shakeel Qadir Khan.

The meeting was also attended by the secretary Culture, Tourism and Sports and the managing director of Bank of Khyber. Province-wide launching of interest-free loan programme to support about 3,500 businesses that will directly benefit more than 10,500 families was approved during the meeting.

Under the youth initiatives, two components including the “innovation fund for entrepreneurs, youth and women” worth two billion rupees and “start-up programme for the economic uplift of youth” worth 1.8 billion rupees for the youth of merged areas will be rolled out.

This programme will be jointly implemented by the Culture, Tourism and Sports Department and the Bank of Khyber.

While the prime beneficiaries of the programme included the youth of the province, it was also disclosed at the meeting that the women, transgenders, minorities and special persons would also be given priority with a 25 percent reserved allocation to access convenient loans to setup their own business ventures enabling them to support their families through new income opportunities.

The programme has already been approved by the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) and is all set to be launched soon through public announcements.

The senior officials also averred at the meeting that the services of experienced professionals, business experts and sector specialists from the manufacturing, services and trading sectors will be engaged by KP government to train the youth as recipients of the loans, support the development of business plans and provide incubation support to start business operations.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021