KARACHI, Sept 4: President Pervez Musharraf will launch Rozgar Scheme, the micro credit scheme for the unemployed youth, on Tuesday (Sept 5), sources in the Presidency confirmed on Monday.

National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) has decided to launch the scheme quietly on the occasion of its presentation to the president at the President House, credible sources in the finance ministry told Dawn on condition of anonymity.

“Yes, our team is in Islamabad to make the presentation to the president. And this will mark the launching of the scheme, which will be handled through our designated branches all over the country,” a senior member of NBP management told Dawn.

“We will post all details regarding the scheme on the website of the bank on Tuesday morning. Anyone interested can visit the NBP website to get access to the relevant information regarding the scheme”, he informed.

After the launching, the bank will introduce the scheme to the public through its advertising campaign. All NBP designated branches will start handling business related to the scheme from Wednesday (Sept 6). The list of these branches will be available on the website.

Rozgar Scheme was announced in the last budget speech, designed to generate employment opportunities for educated youth by providing micro credits to initiate business in certain pre-identified sectors.

Federal Minister for Women Development Sumera Malik, who is said to be responsible for supervising the scheme, was not available on telephone for comments. The president of NBP and the spokesperson of the government on economic affairs were also not available.

The scheme is said be an innovative initiative aiming to create 400,000 jobs for people in the age bracket of 18-40 at the cost of Rs12 billion to the exchequer.

Under the scheme small loans of Rs5,000-100,000 for two to five years will be extended to qualifying candidates for community utility stores, community transport scheme and community communication centres.