KARACHI: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Friday Pakistan had met a major milestone while addressing a ceremony in Islamabad that was organized to mark loan approvals of over Rs100 billion under the government’s flagship low-cost housing program in the country.
Pakistan is currently facing a housing backlog of 10-12 million units. According to some estimates, this figure is roughly increasing by about 350,000 units on an annual basis due to the rising population of the country.
The prime minister had promised to meet the housing demand in Pakistan after winning the last general elections, saying his administration would help construct five million units during its tenure.
“This is a big moment for Pakistan,” he said while addressing the ceremony. “This should have been done much earlier by previous governments.”
The prime minister maintained it was everyone’s dream to own a house, though no one paid attention to the needs of salaried individuals and families who were left to do everything on their own within their limited financial resources.
“The previous Pakistani administrations made policies to serve the elite,” he added. “I can now see the country heading in the right direction where it should have gone much earlier.”
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan addressing the Mera Pakistan Mera Ghar ceremony in Islamabad on December 24, 2021. (PID)
Pakistan has made it mandatory for the country’s commercial banks to allocate five percent of their loans for house construction projects.
“At this moment, banks have approved small loans amounting to Rs109 billion for construction of houses to help low-income families who otherwise lack access to bank loans,” Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Dr. Reza Baqir said while addressing the ceremony.
“Applications of over Rs260 billion for such small and subsidized loans have already been received,” he continued. “So far, the banks have disbursed Rs32 billion under the scheme.”
He added the average weekly approval rate for these loans was Rs4.2 billion while the disbursement rate stood at about Rs1.7 billion.
“This is just the beginning and the numbers will grow as more people come to avail this facility,” the SBP governor said.
Pakistan’s central bank has approved a maximum loan size of Rs10 million for a single housing unit under the scheme which can be availed for up to 20 years at five to nine percent interest rate. The government has already given upfront subsidy of Rs300,000 per housing loan.
