Islamabad: The State Bank of Pakistan released a quarterly report (Jan-March 2017) for the Prime Ministers Youth Business Loan (PMYBL) scheme last week. The Jan-March 2017 quarterly report revealed the schemed failed in its aim of disbursing Rs100b among unemployed youth and only Rs18b had been given out by commercial banks.
In the Jan-March 2017 quarter, commercial banks approved Rs531m of loans, registering an increase of only 2pc from the previous quarter. The data revealed Rs431m worth of loans had been approved by NBP and Rs100m by other commercial banks.
Till end of March 2017, several commercial banks had given out Rs18.04b to 18,015 recipients, as per the quarterly review of the central bank. The average loan size amounted to Rs1m only. In comparison to the previous quarter Oct-Dec 2016, only 325 new recipients had been added to the PMYBL scheme. Also, the outlay of loans remained Rs335m higher than the previous quarter.
National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) had given out loans worth Rs17.3b to 17.252 recipients and the government is offering these loans at 6pc interest rate to the borrowers. The report disclosed that 4,479 individuals had applied for the scheme during the Jan-March 2017 period, an increase of 6pc from the previous quarter. NBP received the bulk of these applications which numbered 4,244 in the quarter under discussion.
By end of March 2017, it was reported that only 13pc females had applied for the PMYBL scheme from the allotted quota of 50pc. The total number of applicants till March 2017 numbered at 78,939 people, out of which only 21,734 (28pc ) had only been accepted.
