LAHORE, March 28: More than two million people in 80 districts have so far benefited from the $107 million Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund’s micro credit and infrastructure schemes during the last three years.

This was stated by PPAF Chief Executive Officer Kamal Hayat at a briefing here on Friday. The PPAF is operating here since April 2000. It is a private sector company sponsored by the Pakistan government and financed by the World Bank. The government has set up an endowment fund of Rs500 million to support the Fund.

The objective of the PPAF is to alleviate poverty and empower the poor, enabling them to access resources and services. It is said to have disbursed over Rs2.6 billion so far in micro credit and infrastructure schemes through its 40 partner organizations.

The PPAF has advanced micro credit to about 148,489 borrowers. Some 39 per cent of its borrowers are women. The average size of the loan provided by the Fund is nearly Rs8,000.

Mr Hayat said the PPAF had initiated 2,815 infrastructure schemes, most of which were related to water supply in the rural areas, disbursing Rs784 million for the purpose. The communities contribute 25 per cent of the total cost of the infrastructure schemes.

The PPAF has undertaken an integrated drought mitigation and management project at Qila Saifullah in Balochistan. Besides, it plans to focus on the provision of educational and health care facilities to the poor. Moreover, it eyes developing enterprise and linking the communities with the formal private sector and markets to eliminate the role of the middlemen.

Mr Hayat admitted that the initiatives like the PPAF could not completely erase the menace of poverty from society because the problem was linked with the overall economic and industrial progress and prosperity of the country.

However, another PPAF official said, its micro credit and infrastructure schemes had made a ‘difference’ to the lives of the communities and individuals, as their poverty levels had declined.

He claimed the incomes of borrowers of the PPAF micro credit had increased by at least five per cent compared to those who did not avail of the facility.