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Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif stated on Thursday that the federal government would donate 100,000 laptop computers to high achiever teenagers across the country based only on merit.
The prime minister delivered these remarks during a ceremony to distribute cheques to Prime Minister Youth Loan Program recipients.
PM Shehbaz Sharif stated that the country’s prosperity was connected to the success of the Youth Loan Program, which, in addition to assisting unemployed youth, benefitted the national economy.
He stated that the loan plan was a continuation of the PM Youth Loan initiative, which was introduced in 2013 by then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif and distributed billions of rupees to eligible youngsters.
The prime minister recalled that CM Loan Scheme was also launched in Punjab and 75,000 youths were also given vehicles on loan.
He said the recovery ratio of the scheme was around 99 percent which manifested the honesty of the country’s youngsters.
Prime Minister Shehbaz said that the 99% recovery ratio of the youth and Kissan loan schemes falsified the misconception about the risks involved in the individual loans by the banks.
He said Pakistani youths never got their loans waived off – a problem that inflicted huge losses to the national economy.
The prime minister congratulated the beneficiaries of the loan scheme and appreciated the services of SAMP Shiza Fatima Khawaja, banks and other partners for their efforts to make this program a success.
He said considering their immense potential, the government would never disappoint the youth and would scrape the maximum resources to extend them loan facilities.
The prime minister also announced that the federal government would distribute 100,000 laptops among top achiever youths across the country, purely on merit.
He said those who used to criticise the laptop scheme in the past should have witnessed that the very laptops helped the youth to earn sustenance, particularly during the COVID pandemic.
“I am giving laptop, not Kalashnikov,” the prime minister remarked who earlier distributed cheques among the beneficiaries of loan scheme besides launching a Freelancer Card.
Earlier, SAPM on Youth Affairs Shiza Fatima Khawaja apprised the audience of the performance of Youth Loan Program and assured that a target of Rs30 billion loan to the youth would be achieved.
She also thanked the relevant ministries, banks, microfinance organisations, business and social media partners for their services and contribution to the success of the program.
She said the agriculture and SME sector would be among major beneficiaries of the loan program.
