By JUDITH NAMUTOWE –

Commercial banks should restructure their loan products for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to suit the current economic trends.
Reeds Business Solutions, a registered Zambian accountancy and auditing firm, with corporate and individual membership of the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants (ZICA) says commercial banks should tailor their loan facilities.
Company managing advisor Daniel Katongo said it was imperative that commercial banks restructure their facilities to enable the micro small and medium Enterprise (MSME) s sector to at affordable rates and be able to pay back.
Mr Katongo said the firm had over the past 10 years seen increased borrowing at consumer and corporate levels which had resulted in defaults because most companies were struggling in their businesses, hence the need to restructure these facilities.
“We call upon commercial banks in Zambia to restructure their loans to suit the current economic trends so that MSME will be able to pay back the loans without default,” he said.
Mr Katongo said once the facility was restructured it would enable their clients to pay back the loan facilities without defaulting, thereby expanding their businesses.
He said commercial banks should review their clients’ business plans and propose strategies that could respond to the economic trends.
Mr Katongo said the MSME were slowly expanding because of the opportunities that are coming on the market such as the Link Zambia 8,000 and the opening up of new mining companies.
He said a lot of MSMEs participated in the Link Zambia 8000 project in terms of supply of materials, resulting in growth of the sector.
Reeds Business Solutions also has business consultants who provide a range of professional services like financial management, corporate recovery, corporate restructuring and reorganisation.