ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Sunday while taking notice of difficulties facing the applicants, instructed the State Bank and National Bank of Pakistan to facilitate those applying for low-cost housing loan under Naya Pakistan Housing Program. Addressing the National Bank of Pakistan’s telethon on low cost housing loan, the prime minister asked the State Bank to instruct commercial banks to ease the loaning process for the applicants. Simultaneously aired on Pakistan Television and different private channels, the telethon was attended by Senator Shibli Faraz, Chairman of Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority Lt. General (Retd) Anwar Ali Hyder, State Bank Governor Raza Baqir, President of National Bank of Pakistan Arif Usmani and Executive Director SBP Samar Hasnain. The prime minister joined the telethon telephonically for being in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 a week ago. Imran Khan said that the NBP, being the premier bank of the country, should also instruct its staffers, to facilitate the loan applicants, observing that the bank employees were also not in habit of extending such easy loans to the cashless people. He said there was no such concept of housing loan for the poor people in the country, that was why the people were facing difficulties in the beginning.