PM raises youth loan ceiling to Rs25m, cuts minimum age to 18
A review meeting in Islamabad reserved 30 percent of the scheme's loans for women and confirmed Rs292bn for youth lending this year.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif raised the personal loan limit under the Prime Minister's Youth Business and Agriculture Loan Schemes from Rs7.5 million to Rs25 million, and ordered the minimum age for a loan cut from 21 to 18, at a review meeting he chaired in Islamabad on Sunday.
The meeting reviewed lending to young people under the schemes and how they are being run. Loans under the higher ceiling are to be repaid in easy instalments.
Rs292 billion has been allocated this year for lending to young people under the two schemes.
The prime minister directed that 30 percent of the loans in the programme be reserved for women, so that they can become financially independent and take a larger part in business. He said the lower age limit would let young people start businesses and join agricultural work earlier.
A briefing told the meeting that 581,341 young people have received loans since January 2023, ten times the number in the previous ten years, and that Rs313.9 billion has been disbursed in that period. For 2026-27, the estimate is 266,700 borrowers and Rs292 billion.
Sharif praised Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb and his team for arranging financial support for business and agricultural activity.
He directed the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) to give young borrowers every kind of support under the scheme, including help in starting a business, mentoring, business advice and technical assistance. He also ordered a nationwide awareness campaign on the schemes, the opportunities available and the government's steps, so that more young people use them.
Young people are Pakistan's valuable asset, he said. The government, he said, is committed to empowering them, putting their abilities to use and providing respectable and productive employment.
Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, the prime minister's special assistant on youth affairs Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan and his special assistant on political affairs Talha Burki attended the meeting.
How the reports differ
Aaj News reported the higher ceiling as a decision taken by the prime minister at the meeting, while Express News described it as one of the figures conveyed to him in the briefing on the schemes. Both carried the same numbers for the age limit, the 30 percent allocation for women and the Rs292 billion earmarked for the year.
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