The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) in Muchinga Province has welcomed the establishment of a micro finance institution for public service workers.
Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda announced the establishment of the micro finance last week in Chavuma when he opened a National Savings and Credit Bank branch which makes it the first-ever bank in the area .
Mr Chikwanda said the micro finance institution will be charged with the responsibility of disbursing affordable credit to public service workers at a lending rate not exceeding 5 percent adding it will be operational soon and will trigger a downward movement in interest rates.
ZCTU Regional Coordinator for Muchinga Province Nondo Kasanda told ZANIS in Chinsali today that government workers in the province have welcomed the development.
Mr. Kasanda says the move shows how committed the government is towards the improvement of the workers welfare in the country.
Mr. Kasanda says other financial institutions should take a leaf from the government and consider reducing their lending rates to levels that will encourage many people to access affordable loans.
He said President Michael Sata promised the government workers that his administration would soon come up with a micro finance institution that would be giving loans to the workers at a much better rate.
Mr. Kasanda has also appealed to the government to consider giving first priority to workers serving in the newly created districts so as to enable them build houses and avert the critical shortage of houses.
He said workers in Chinsali and other newly created districts are facing serious challenges with regards to housing and there is need therefore for the Government to come up with a deliberate policy that will support the giving of house loans to officers serving in such districts.
Mr. Chikwanda explained that the public service micro finance institution which will be operational soon is meant to trigger a downward movement in interest rates.
ZANIS
Another loophole for corruption ! Let’s see who will access the money !
Loans to finance consumption at five percentage, are the funds coming from the famous Bond money? Otherwise, who will bear the cost of such a subsidy? The Govt would have been excused to bear such costs to promote diversification, not building houses, buying cars, etc? Nonsense!
This is a good move,Financial lending institutions have exploited Civil Servants for a long time.I commend the PF government for this move.Civil servants should now take the opportunity for such loans to invest and build houses.A pension should not be used to build houses,but to help you settle….
Let this move of affordable loans to public servants be done in the open and very fast, public servants have suffered a lot with high rates from current financial lending institutions.
ZCTU should know that this move will result in loss of hundreds of jobs in the Micro Finance sector. Further, creating a parastatal enterprise with politically appointed management team is a sure recipe for failure. We were once on this path and failed lamentably and it is suprising that the PF should try failed policies. In short, the national economy will lose jobs, tax revenue, and government will waste tax payers money on a non viable attempt at running a business unit.