KATHMANDU: The government has announced a new scheme to promote entrepreneurship and self-employment among youth by providing loans ranging from NPR 2 million to 20 million without collateral. These loans will be given based on educational qualifications, business registration, and project proposals.

Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel made this announcement while presenting the budget for the upcoming fiscal year in parliament on Thursday. He emphasized that only ‘educated’ youth will be eligible to access these loans.

The loans will carry a subsidized interest rate of 3 percent. However, there are concerns that such schemes have been previously misused by political parties to expand their vote banks and produce party activists.