Chief Minister Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Mahmood Khan distributed 5000 sanction letters among the youth of tribal districts enabling them to avail bank loans of one million each and start small business enterprises preferably under sole proprietorship. This is worth appreciation measure of the provincial government in keeping with “youth loan policy” of the Prime Minister Imran Khan; however, it may be wrongly interpreted by the opposition political parities, particularly the one that opposed tooth and nail FATA merger, as a decision to influence the electioneering process prior to polls for the provincial assembly seats in the tribal districts. The announcement of the government to extend the coverage of interest free small business loans scheme to the entire province will certainly deflate the propaganda balloon against this commendable scheme.
In all successive previous governments, youth loans for self employment have never been interest free. Even on the loan of Rs.100000 given by the Small Business Finance Corporation carried a compound interest rate of 22 percent and most of the defaulters faced arrest warrants because of not observing the payment schedule of principle amount and hevyinterest accrued thereon. The rate of interest on bank loans to government employees with deductible regular monthly instalments from their salaries was also very high. Hopefully, the repayment schedule of interest free youth loans shall be an easy one for those who avail it.
