ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Friday said the PML-N government was committed to empower the youth by providing them Rs 3.7 billion easy loans as it would not only help the country but also strengthen national economy.

Speaking at the first balloting ceremony of PM Business Youth Loan Programme here, the Prime Minister said that in the past upto 70 percent of youth population had no access to loans, as only the influential businessmen were eligible to get loans from banks.

He said the youth would lead the nation as in the developed countries 80 percent youth were playing their role in strengthening the economy.

He said these youth would come forward by starting their own businesses in various sectors which would not only benefit them but they would also be in a position to provide jobs to other persons.

The Prime Minister recalled that he had not raised the slogan to change destiny of the nation just for getting votes, but it was the commitment to provide jobs to people and make them respectable citizens.

He said around 36,000 applications including 2800 from Punjab, 600 from Islamabad Capital Territory, 3500 from KPK, 100 from Gilgit Baltistan, 1000 from Balochistan and 3000 from Sindh, were received.

He said out of these applications 6000 were selected for balloting, of which 5399 would be given loans.

He said the applicants were selected according to the provincial quota and said the target for 2014 is 1,00,000 applicants.

The Prime Minister said that the successful candidates would be informed through SMS.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that country's GDP showed a growth of five percent during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, 17 percent increase in taxes while the industrial growth was recorded 6.6 percent till December 2013.

He said in the beginning, the government had to take some tough decisions.

The Prime Minister said that nothing was done for the uplift of country in the past and that was why the people were suffering from long loadshedding.

He said it was top priority of the government to reduce energy crisis, adding the present government after coming into power, reduced the loadshedding duration through better management and would further reduce it through best policy.

He said there was still 7000 MW of shortfall in demand and supply and the government would not only reduce this gap but would produce 20,000 to 25,000 MW of electricity.

The Prime Minister said work on Karachi-Lahore Motorway would be started very soon where Lahore-Multan, Sukkar-Multan and Sukkar- Hyderabad sections would be completed.

Chairperson Prime Minister Business Youth Programme Maryam Nawaz on the occasion said that female applicants from Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory have been selected through balloting while all the female applications from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Balochistan, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir had been approved.

(APP)