Youth Self-Employment programme : Three banks step forward to lend
KATHMANDU, APR 09 -
Three banks have stepped forward to implement the Youth Self-Employment Programme (YSEP) after the government decided to fund the scheme through government-owned banks.
Agricultural Development Bank Limited (ADBL) has signed an agreement with the Youth and Small Entrepreneur Self-Employment Fund (YSESEF) to issue loans worth Rs 1 billion in 25 districts. Meanwhile, Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) and Nepal Bank Limited (NBL) have expressed their intention to sign a deal with the YSESEF within a couple of weeks. The government has sizeable stakes in all these three banks.
The government directed government-owned banks to provide financing to the self-employment plan after getting a cold response from private banks.
The self-employment programme has not been as successful as anticipated with credit worth Rs 350 million issued in the last four years.
The YSESEF has asked the three banks to lend Rs 1 billion and cover 25 districts each so that all the 75 districts in the country will come under the programme.
The ADBL board has approved its plan to lend Rs 10 million in each of the 25 districts assigned to it for a total of Rs 250 million in the first phase. The districts assigned to ADBL are Siraha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, Rasuwa, Ramechhap, Kapilvastu, Rolpa, Rukum, Dailekh, Jajarkot, Humla, Jumla, Mugu, Kalikot, Dolpa, Doti, Bajhang, Bajura, Achham, Darchula, Baitadi and Dadeldhura.
A senior ADBL official said that they planned to start lending under the government’s programme from remote districts as they are backward socially and economically.
The NBL board on Sunday endorsed the bank’s action plan on lending under the YSEP. However, it is yet to endorse the credit plan and the districts where it will be issuing loans, according to a senior NBL official.
Coordinator of the NBL management team Maheswor Lal Shrestha said that they were working on the plan to issue credit under the programme. A bank official said that they could sign an accord with the YSESEF within a week. Shrestha said that they were positive about lending Rs 1 billion under the programme.
RBB is also preparing to lend under the YSEP. “We hope to complete preparing the programme this week and sign an agreement with the YSESEF this week or the next week,” said Krishna Prasad Sharma, chief executive officer of RBB. He added that they were thinking of proposing to lend as per the physiology instead of fixing a certain target amount .
Although the programme aroused euphoria when it was announced some four years ago by the then Maoist-led government, successive governments led by Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal gave it low priority.
With the Maoists back in government, the programme has been returned to the priority list.
Source: Kantipur
