Kathmandu Metropolitan City is going to provide concessional loans to those who want to become self-employed and entrepreneurs. In order to become self-employed and create employment, the metropolis is going to provide loans by signing an agreement with the Youth and Small Entrepreneurs Self-Employment Fund.

Acting Chief of the metropolis Sunita Dangol informed that an agreement has been reached to operate a partnership program based on cooperation under the loan investment and recovery procedures of the fund operated under the Youth and Small Entrepreneurs Self-Employment Fund (Operation) Regulations.

'For respectable enterprises, self-employment and job creation, we have started efforts to develop enterprises through concessional loans,' Acting Chief Dangol said, 'Good borrowers of this program will receive a 60 percent interest subsidy. Initially, there will be an 8 percent interest. Those who repay the amount regularly according to the prescribed criteria will receive a 60 percent or 4.8 percent interest subsidy at the end. Thus, the interest for the borrower will be only 3.2 percent.'

According to him, this is a partnership program based on cooperation. For this, a separate fund will be established by both parties by setting aside 20 million each. The amount in this fund will be invested in loans to local residents within the KMC area through financial institutions and cooperatives. The fund will return the amount collected in this way to KMC after 5 years.

This loan investment is for the economically disadvantaged, women, Dalits, indigenous peoples, gender and sexual minorities. Loans will be invested in people who have returned from abroad or trained people. For individuals, a maximum of 500,000 per person at a concessional interest rate and a maximum of 500,000 per group of 15 people will be invested, KMC has informed.