ISLAMABAD: The federal government has reduced the number of documents required to apply for the Prime Minister’s Apna Ghar housing scheme from 25 to five and set a maximum processing period of 15 working days for housing loans.
The measures were announced at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday to review financing for housing, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and agriculture. Federal ministers, advisers, senior officials and chief executives of several banks attended the meeting.
Officials told the meeting that 75,198 loans worth Rs448 billion had been approved under the housing scheme so far. However, Rs76 billion had been disbursed to 14,000 applicants.
The government has set a target of providing Rs700 billion in housing finance for 125,000 residential units during the current year.
Prime Minister Shehbaz directed the relevant authorities to simplify the application process further and help applicants obtain clear and unencumbered property title documents required to secure housing finance. He also instructed the State Bank of Pakistan and the concerned ministries to consult stakeholders and submit final recommendations by the end of October to improve lending under the housing, agriculture and SME financing schemes.
The meeting was also briefed on progress in agricultural lending. Loans to the sector have reached Rs1,352 billion, benefiting around 3.455 million people. The government aims to increase agricultural financing to Rs1,500 billion and expand the number of beneficiaries to 4.5 million by June 2027.
Meanwhile, more than 352,000 small and medium-sized businesses have received loans totalling Rs1,137 billion. The government aims to increase lending to Rs1,500 billion and extend financing to 575,000 businesses by June 2027.
The prime minister stressed that timely access to financing for housing, agriculture and small businesses was important for economic growth. He urged banks that had performed well to maintain their efforts and called on the others to improve their lending performance.
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