•The one–year old Hustler Fund has helped correct the market failure in provision of affordable credit, according to President Ruto.
•This is especially to those who have no access to any collateral.
Image: ENOS TECHE
Individuals who have saved with the Hustler Fund will be paid an interest rate of 12 per cent on their savings by the end of this month, President William Ruto has affirmed.
This, as he promised an enhanced fund starting January next year, as demand for credit in the country continues to grow.
According to the President, the fund will from January include specific financial products, to provide additional enterprise and business facilities for existing mama mboga and boda boda saccos.
“At the end of this month, every saver will be paid an attractive interest rate of 12 per cent on their savings,” Ruto said during his Jamhuru Day address to the nation, in Nairobi.
The interest is above most banks and Saccos which are offering between five per cent and 10 per cent interest on savings, on average.
The one–year old Hustler Fund has helped correct the market failure in provision of affordable credit, according to President Ruto, especially to those who have no access to any collateral, and has freed five million Kenyans trapped in the credit rating mess.
“..the Hustler Fund has grown to become the largest financial inclusion programme in Kenya, disbursing Sh 42 billion to more than 21 million borrowers,” Ruto said.
Borrowers on the fund have so far saved Sh2 billion with a repayment rate of 75 per cent nationally.
“As promised, we have already enhanced credit limits for over 1.2 million borrowers and spent Sh500 million to match long-term savings on a ratio of Sh1 for every Sh2 saved,” the President affirmed.
Over 7.7 million are regular borrowers on the Hustler Fund platform, according to government data.
His sentiments comes even as the private sector and households remain exposed to costly loans by banks and other lenders, after the recent increase on the Central Bank of Kenya’s base lending rate, which increased to 12.5 per cent from 10.5 per cent.
This is likely to push up banks interest rates to above 21 per cent, a move that could see borrowers locked out of affordable credit, amid a high default rate on the back of tough economic times.
The ratio of gross non-performing loans (NPLs) to gross loans grew to 15.3 per cent in October 2023 compared to 15.0 per cent in August 2023, CBK data shows.
“Increases in NPLs were noted in the manufacturing, trade, personal and household, building and construction, and transport and communication sectors,” CBK governor Kamau Thugge said during the recent Monetary Policy Committee meeting, on December 5.
Kenyan borrowers have now defaulted on about Sh600 billion in loans on the back of rising interest rates, exposing households and businesses to auctions and property seizures.
Demand for credit however remains stable, according to CBK, despite the high interest rates.
Growth in private sector credit remained relatively stable at 12.5 per cent in October 2023 and 12.2 per cent in September, it said, with strong credit growth observed in manufacturing (18.4 per cent), transport and communication (16.2 per cent), trade (9.9 per cent), and consumer durables (10.8 per cent).
“The number of loan applications and approvals remained strong, reflecting sustained demand particularly for working capital requirements,” Thugge said.
Meanwhile, President Ruto has affirmed the government’s commitment to build a culture of savings in Kenya, as an effort to create long-term investment resources to fund growth and development, and provide better retirement terms.
This includes the new NSSF contribution model, which he said has enhanced monthly contributions by four and a half times.
The fund will therefore raise an additional Sh400 billion in the next five years, tripling the value from Sh320 billion to over Sh1 trillion by 2027.
Owing to digitisation and automation, NSSF benefit processing turnaround time has improved from an average of 82 days to 10 days, with further reduction in the processing period to within a day in the next one year.
The President has assured that the government is taking “strong measures” to ensure that all revenue and monies remitted by Kenyans is administered transparently, efficiently and in a secure manner.
“One of our best interventions is the use of digital technology and the migration of government revenue collection to a single paybill. Since this measure was implemented, we have witnessed a significant rise in total revenues collected,” he said.
Besides enhancing revenue collection, digitisation has eliminated revenue leakages through corruption and theft.
“It is important that we sustain this progress in promoting integrity, transparency and efficiency in revenue management. And for this reason, I direct that all agencies observe the December 31 deadline to finalise the migration to the e-Citizen platform,” he said.