The government has unveiled plans to write off loans to a tune of 108 billion Shillings that were given out under the Youth Livelihood Program.
This follows a failure by the recipients to reimburse the money, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The plan was unveiled by the State Minister for Labour, Mwesigwa Rukutana in a presentation before the National Economy Committee of Parliament.
The Ministry officials had appeared before the meeting to submit their views on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.
Rukutana told the committee that close to 23,248 projects financed under the Youth Livelihood Program and Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program is at risk of collapse due to the poor performance and slow recovery of funds.
This, he says, will affect close to 500,000 youths
and women.
Rukutana explained that under the Youth Venture Capital Fund, at the time of
the lockdown, 8.6 billion Shillings was lent out to the youths but no repayment
has been received since.
Additionally, recoveries under the Youth Livelihood Program
and the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program-UWEP have dropped by 90 per
cent. ENDS .