The Government has suspended the 2026 loan empowerment component under the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) due to low loan repayment rates, with funds redirected to other areas within the CDF value-chain.
Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development Director of Planning and Information Martin Sodala said the decision was made to allow for recoveries of already disbursed funds to various groups, among them marketeers.
Mr Sodala said the loan empowerment component was initially designed to support enterprises, giving priority to youths, women, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable persons in the country.
“That 2026 loan empowerment component has since been suspended to allow for recoveries to be made from those who got loans and also to address the poor culture of repaying loans by beneficiaries, including marketeers themselves,” Mr Sodala said.
He was responding to a query by Zambia National Marketeers Credit Association (ZAMAMA) president Mupila Kameya on the empowerment of marketeers during the recently held National Development Coordinating Committee meeting organised by the Ministry of Finance and National Planning.
Mr Sodala said the ministry had struggled to recover funds initially provided under the programme due to the low repayment rate which stood at 35 per cent since the expanded CDF programme commenced in 2021.
“Those that had initially been given access to loan empowerment funds under CDF, we have struggled as a ministry to recover loans provided,” he said.
Mr Sodala said the 2026 CDF loan empowerment suspension had resulted in the funds being channeled to other needy areas within the CDF value chain.
He however, said that disbursement had continued only from recoveries that were being made from already disbursed loans.
Mr Sodala said the ministry would guide when the full disbursement of CDF loan empowerment would commence.
“I think we’ll be guided at an appropriate time when the Ministry will make a decision whether we go back to giving out these loans in full,” he said.
Mr Sodala said the Government’s focus for now was on recovering the outstanding loans.
