By JUDITH NAMUTOWE-
THE Government has released K25 million out of K100 million set aside for the disbursement of loans to the public service workers this year.
This year, the government has set aside K100 million for loans to the public service workers through the Public Service Micro Finance Company Limited.
Public Service Micro Finance Company chief executive officer, Mubanga Mwiko, said the institution had since started issuing out loans to government employees in Lusaka Province.
Mr Mwiko said all the districts in Lusaka Province had been covered apart from Lusaka district, noting that eight ministries in Lusaka district had so far been covered.
“Our target is to reach between 4,000 and 5,000 civil servants this year. If only we can disburse to 5,000 people, that will be good for the bank,” he said.
Mr Mwiko said once the lending institution completed the disbursement of loans in Lusaka Province, it would move to rural areas considering that not everybody in those areas would be issued with loans.
He explained that last year, when the bank started, the company received an initial capital of K70million which was meant for start-up as well as loaning out to some public service workers.
He said out of K70million, more than K53million was meant for loans and the bank had by the close of the year disbursed almost K50million to more than 3,000 civil servants in rural areas.
“Our strategy for last year was that we needed to target civil servants in rural areas outside Lusaka Province, as one way of moving the economy forward.
“This was also because previously, only civil servants from Lusaka and Copperbelt provinces were issued with loans, but not all civil servants are based in the two provinces. So we wanted to start with the rural areas so that we see what impact this would cause on the economy,” Mr Mwiko explained.
He said the bank received about 12,000 applications, but that only 3,161 were issued with loans in the rural areas.
He praised National Savings and Credit Bank (NATSAVE) and the provincial administrations across the country for partnering with the bank in ensuring that the civil servants were reached.
Mr Mwiko said the bank might consider to adjust the interest rate as it grows, but that this would be determined by the operational cost.