Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday announced that the federal government would distribute 100,000 laptops among top achieving youth across the country, purely on merit.

Addressing a ceremony for cheque distribution among the beneficiaries of the Prime Minister Youth Loan Program, he said “those who used to criticise the laptop scheme in the past should have witnessed that the very laptops helped the youth earn sustenance, particularly during the Covid pandemic.”

“I am giving laptop, not Kalashnikov,” the prime minister remarked.

Govt to provide laptops to 100,000 students: SAPM

He further stated that the country’s progress was linked to the success of the Youth Loan Program which, besides supporting the unemployed youngsters, also benefited the national economy.

“If provided with ample opportunities, Pakistan’s youth will take the country to new heights.”

He said the loan scheme was the continuation of the PM Youth Loan scheme launched in 2013 by then prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

PM Shehbaz recalled that CM Youth Loan Scheme was also launched in Punjab and 75,000 youth were also given vehicles on loan.

He said the recovery ratio of the youth loan scheme was around 99% which manifested the honesty of the country’s youngsters.

“The 99% recovery ratio of the youth and Kissan loan schemes falsify 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.

Ecnec approves PM’s Youth Laptop Scheme

He said considering their immense potential, the government would never disappoint the youth and would scrape the maximum resources to extend them loan facilities.

Earlier, SAPM on Youth Affairs Shiza Fatima Khawaja apprised the audience of the performance of the 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.

Bank of Punjab President and CEO Zafar Masud, while highlighting the features of the freelancer card, said the freelancers could bring in revenue worth billions of rupees if card was issued and account access was made easy.

He recalled that in the past, the recovery ratio of the Rozgar scheme was 99% while the recovery rate of Kissan scheme was 99.6% which removed misconceptions about the government loan schemes.