LAHORE: The Punjab government has released loans amounting to Rs24 billion for 57,913 new businesses in three months.

Presiding over a meeting here on Saturday, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz discussed the Easy Business Finance and Easy Business Card schemes.

`For the first time, 6753 women have received loans amounting to Rs3.4bn to run their own businesses. She directed the authorities concerned to complete the process of pending applications for easy business finance and card loans as early as possible.

She said some 3,010 people got loans amounting to Rs18bn under the Chief Minister Easy Business Finance Scheme, while 104,000 people got loans worth Rs43bn under the Chief Minister Easy Business Card Scheme. Staff Reporter