The Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin has directed banks to develop a design of a program, to facilitate tier 1 borrowers get loans on zero or low-interest rates.

Shaukat Tarin chaired a meeting on the expansion of the Kamyab Jawan Program with SAPM on Youth Affairs, Usman Dar, and the Presidents of National Bank, Habib Bank and Bank of Punjab.

The Finance Minister also invited Chairman Naya Pakistan Housing Authority along with others to share their views on the expansion of the project so that more people especially youth could become part of the government’s financial inclusion program.

Banks were asked to prepare a design of a program for tier 1 borrowers (borrowers that are more likely to repay their debt) through which they could collaborate with Microfinance Banks and Microfinance Institutions and provide short/medium-term loans at zero or least possible interest rates for entrepreneurship, agricultural development and for financing housing construction.

The participating banks and other stakeholders shared their views and experiences in the meeting on the subject and agreed with the general idea of maximizing the use of financial resources by micro-credit users.

The Finance Minister directed that all the major banks and microfinance institutions come up with their suggestions on the design of the program within a week’s time and also earmark a percentage of their resources for the purpose.

The meeting was told that the government will provide a credit guarantee and risk-sharing facility to provide comfort to the commercial banks.