PESHAWAR: The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (GoKP) has announced to give interest-free loans ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs1 million to 25,000 youth.

The announcement was made by KP Minister for Finance, Taimoor Saleem Khan Jhagra while presenting the province’s budget 2021-22 in the provincial assembly here on Friday.

The Minister said that the total outlay of the budget of the third largest province of the country by population is Rs1.118 trillion, with record development budget of Rs 371 billion for the next fiscal year. He informed that Rs 199 billion have been allocated for the merged districts, previously known as FATA, while Rs 919 billion have been set for the rest of the province.

Jhagra announced 100 percent increase in pensions of the widows that were earlier 75%. Besides Prime Minister’s Ehsaas Program and Universal Health Insurance coverage, he said Rs 10 billion allocated for wheat subsidy, Rs 10 billion for food baskets to poor people, Rs 10 billion for revival of business of corona affected Small Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs), Women, Minorities and Youth through Bank of Khyber.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021