Pakistan’s government has launched a new program under the Prime Minister’s Youth Program (PMYP) initiative, named Prime Minister’s Youth Business and Agriculture Loan Scheme (PMYB & ALS) on Tuesday.
The PMYP launched a new division with the name ‘Fintech Division’ and provided the impact report of PMYB & ALS.
The program’s report was unveiled by Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan, Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme (PMYP), at a ceremony held at Pakistan Television Corporation headquarters in Islamabad.
The event was attended by officials from financial institutions, policymakers and members of the media.
Mr Mashhood said the youth programme was now focused on “delivery” rather than announcements, with greater use of data and technology in education, employment and business support.
Expansion of youth loan scheme planned
The Prime Minister’s Youth Business and Agriculture Loan Scheme (PMYB&ALS) provides subsidised loans to young people starting or expanding businesses.
Mr Mashhood said the government would recommend increasing the size of the scheme from Rs200bn to Rs300bn for the 2026–27 financial year.
He added that the upper lending limit under Tier 3 of the scheme, currently set at Rs7.5m, was under review and could rise to between Rs20m and Rs30m.
He said the proposal was based on signs that some youth-led businesses had shown steady growth and needed larger loans to expand further.
The impact report was prepared with technical support from the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Universities to receive unified digital system
Digital reform was a central part of the announcement. Mr Mashhood said all universities in Pakistan would be given a unified digital system within the next 18 months.
He said this would create a single digital footprint for higher education institutions and help students move more easily into the job market. If completed on time, the plan would digitally connect the country’s entire university sector.
The chairman also referred to the Digital Youth Hub, an online platform that brings together job listings, scholarships and training opportunities.
Around 800,000 people have registered since its soft launch, according to officials. The portal includes more than 100,000 job listings and over 20,000 scholarships, and is expected to become fully operational next week.
Dashboards linked to the Prime Minister’s Office and provincial governments will be used to monitor progress, he said.
Focus on education and employment
The PMYP is built around four areas: education, engagement, environment and employment.
Mr Mashhood said initiatives such as laptop schemes and scholarship programmes had reached millions of young people.
He also announced that the Punjab Danish Authority would be expanded into a national body, with plans to establish the country’s first Danish University in a later phase.
On employment, he noted that Pakistan’s Labour Force Survey, previously conducted every four years, is now being carried out annually.
Under the National Youth Employment Policy, the government aims to increase female participation in the workforce to at least 35% and ensure that youth-led enterprises account for at least 10% of new company registrations.
Digital accounts for overseas workers
Mr Mashhood also spoke about support for overseas Pakistanis, particularly low-income workers in Gulf countries.
He said digital bank accounts had been introduced to encourage the use of formal remittance channels.
The initiative, developed with the Ministry of Finance, commercial banks and the State Bank of Pakistan, aims to open between 100,000 and one million accounts this year. The longer-term target is 4.4 million accounts.
According to officials, the move could add about $1bn to annual remittance inflows if widely adopted.
In his closing remarks, Mr Mashhood called on media organisations, financial institutions and education leaders to support the programme’s implementation.
He said the government’s goal was to ensure that opportunities for young people are based on merit, skills and access to finance, rather than personal connections.
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